About 40 concerned Burnaby residents gathered in front of Burnaby North-Seymour MP Terry Beech's constituency office on Saturday to voice their strong opposition to the Trudeau Liberals' re-approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.
The biggest message is that protesters aren’t going anywhere soon after the re-approval of the TMX project, and that they object to a “massive subsidy” involved with this project.
“The volunteers re-committed themselves to fighting this project, and their plan to urge citizens to use this election to elect candidates who put climate action at the center of their platforms - and that does not include using billions of public money to build a pipeline expansion,” said Cheryl Cameron of Dogwood BC.
Beech told the NOW that he gave the protesters a copy of his statement from last week after the project was re-approved.
Part of the statement said: "Through many conversations in our community, and thousands of responses to our surveys, I can say with confidence that constituents in Burnaby North-Seymour, on balance, are opposed to this project. That is why I stand behind my vote against the project in the House of Commons, and why I have consistently presented our concerns to the Trans Mountain Ministerial Panel, Cabinet, Members of Parliament, and directly to our Prime Minister. I also wish to acknowledge that in many of these consultations, members of our community have also expressed their desire for this project to go ahead. I take my responsibility to represent our entire community very seriously, and I want you to be assured that I have listened to all points of view with an open mind. I also want to acknowledge the views and concerns expressed by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. Their efforts in the courts and in our community have brought our entire country to a better place. The working relationship we have developed over the last four years has been one of the most meaningful to me personally. I look forward to continuing to work with the Tsleil-Waututh Nation on this issue and on the many other issues that are important to the Tsleil-Waututh people."
The rest of the statement can be found here.
