Alistair MacGregor was handed several jars of water collected from the local coastline on Friday as more than 100 protesters descended on his Duncan office demanding federal action to stop the Kinder Morgan pipeline.
The protest at the office of MacGregor, the NDP MP for Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, was one of dozens held at MP offices across Canada on what was being called a National Day of Action to Defend Water on March 23.
Dr. Brenda Bernhardt, organizer of the Duncan demonstration, said the protests are intended to encourage the MPs to put pressure on the federal government to stop pushing for an oil pipeline across B.C. to the coast.
“The water that is being delivered to MPs is a reminder of the waterways being threatened by Kinder Morgan’s project and we are asking them to make a commitment to protect the Salish Sea and protect our climate and indigenous rights,” she said.
“The pipeline will help see a huge increase in global warming, threaten our coast with oil spills and violate indigenous rights. If we move forward with this project, we can look forward to being dependent on fossil fuels for decades to come. We need to clean up our act or we’ll go the way of the White Rhinoceros.”
The $7.4-billion Kinder Morgan’s pipeline expansion is set to nearly triple the flow of multipurpose oil from Alberta to B.C.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government approved the Kinder Morgan project in 2016, but the pipeline has since faced permit fights and challenges from the B.C. government.
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MacGregor, who is opposed to the pipeline, joined the protesters who were gathered in front of his office to listen to the various speakers and singers.
He said he’s proud to represent a community that is so actively engaged in such an important issue.
A petition was circulating at the protest and MacGregor said that every 25 signatures on it will give him one extra minute to discuss Kinder Morgan’s pipeline project in Parliament.
“The Trudeau government depends on a large number of back-bench Liberal MPs in B.C. to govern and they have to be feeling the pressure from these protests,” he said.
“I really don’t think the pipeline will go ahead. There’s just too much resistance to it.”
robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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