Pipeline protesters dog Trudeau in sunny California

Opposition to Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has followed Justin Trudeau to sunny California, where protesters demonstrated Friday outside the hotel where the prime minister was holding meetings with top state officials.

About a dozen protesters made up of local climate-change activists held signs demanding Trudeau reverse his decision on the project, chanting anti-pipeline slogans from across the street.

Three of the protesters briefly got inside the hotel and demon- strated with their backs up against the wall directly outside the room where Trudeau met with California Gov. Jerry Brown.

Trudeau has given no indication he’s willing to back down from the project, pledging to get it built.

One of the protesters, Vanessa Butterworth of Toronto, said Trudeau must back up his talk about protecting the environment and climate by rejecting the Kinder Morgan project.

The message was different than the one Trudeau received inside the hotel first from Brown, and then his deputy Gavin Newsom, who is a favourite to replace Brown at the end of the Democrat’s term.

Brown said his state and Canada had much to do while the White House was “temporarily missing in action in terms of climate action.”

California and more than a dozen other states have moved ahead with carbon pricing schemes, including a cap-and-trade system with Ontario and Quebec. Brown said he wants to forge other agreements with various provinces, and push for growth in zero-emission vehicles.