The fight against the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline is not over, at least thatB次元官网网址檚 what concerned local residents heard in a town hall this week, presented by Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke MP Randall Garrison and Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen.

Garrison, who has been steadfast in his opposition of the pipeline brought Cullen to speak to his constituents because B次元官网网址渇ive years into the same fight, people want to know whatB次元官网网址檚 changed nowB次元官网网址� that the government owns the 65-year-old pipeline.

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B次元官网网址淲e have to stop doing the things we know, it will not lead us to the climate targets we need,B次元官网网址� Garrison said, in an interview.

Each year, the oil being transported through the pipeline will eat up the equivalent of 84 per cent of the targets Canada set in the Paris Agreement.

A B次元官网网址渧ery strong campaign financed by the oil industry of climate change denialB次元官网网址� and the enormity of the challenge overwhelms the average person, Garrison said.

Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP calls the purchase of the pipeline a B次元官网网址減aternalistic processB次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址� Kristyn Anthony (@kristyn_anthony)

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The federal government purchased the 65-year-old Trans Mountain pipeline from Kinder Morgan in May after the Texas-based energy giant could not guarantee assurances the B.C. government wouldnB次元官网网址檛 continue to interfere and hold up the project.

The twinning of the existing pipeline is designed to increase the amount of diluted bitumen travelling to B.C. coasts, that is then loaded onto tankers. This expansion is expected to increasing tanker traffic by 700 per cent.

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In August, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled the government failed to properly consult with Indigenous communities, requiring the National Energy Board to start its review process over.

B次元官网网址淭he National Energy Board up close is a very strange animal,B次元官网网址� said Cullen, adding one of the rules for people who come to testify is that their 10 minute time slot prohibits singing, a staple of Indigenous culture.

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Cullen has been touring communities throughout B.C. in an effort to mobilize voters to B次元官网网址済et politicians to do what they need to do.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淧eople are ahead of the politicians on this,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e at a point and time in our history where the status quo is dead.B次元官网网址�

Concerned with how the feds will serve as both B次元官网网址渏udge and juryB次元官网网址� now that they own the pipeline, while also being technically responsible for the assessment of twinning it, Cullen called the entire process B次元官网网址減aternalistic.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淎t some point, we have to decide where weB次元官网网址檙e going,B次元官网网址� he said.

@kristyn_anthony
kristyn.anthony@blackpress.ca
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