Let’s finish this fight and win against Kinder Morgan
By Aurore Fauret
In the last few weeks, people from coast to coast, from Victoria to Halifax, rose to oppose Justin Trudeau’s billion dollar bail out for the Kinder Morgan pipeline.
People from all walks of life — from experienced organizers to first-time action takers — got together to send a clear message. While the Trudeau government is willing to trample over climate commitments, water protection promises, and the promise to renew nation-to-nation relationships with Indigenous peoples, people all across Canada are not.
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Bringing opposition to Cabinet
As the Trudeau Cabinet scrambled to get together for emergency meetings to show support for Kinder Morgan and plan for a mass taxpayer bailout, people were at the door of one third of the Cabinet ministers across the country to let them know the need for fierce opposition to KM inside the Liberal caucus.
Elections 2019 are in sight
Opposition also went far beyond only Cabinet members, and many other Liberal MPs were visited by rallies. In some cases, those are MPs who either won by a small margin, potentially thanks to an unprecedented youth turnout, or who were elected on particularly progressive promises environmental or social. In these cases, people came out to warn MPs that not only would they vote against them at the next election, but they would organize to show the true political cost of standing on the wrong side of history on this issue.
Back in 2015, people all across Canada voted for change. For many of us, that meant voting for a Liberal party that promised climate action, reconciliation and real environmental protection but now, they’re giving is nothing but a dangerous pipeline. It’s time to remind them that people voted for change, that many of voted strategically for them, but none of us voted for Kinder Morgan.
MP Greg Fergus for example, was visited by constituents in Hull-Aylmer:
And all over, in Napanee, London, Hamilton, St Catharines, Ottawa, Halifax, Burnaby, Edmonton, London, Saskatoon, and Victoria, MP offices and Liberal party events were bombarded with messages to stop Kinder Morgan.
It seemed like Liberal caucus members couldn’t go anywhere without coming face to face with resistance to the Kinder Morgan pipeline.
All the while, opposition on Burnaby Mountain remained strong
While people brought clear messages to Liberal MP and cabinet minister offices, Indigenous-led resistance in BC remained strong.
For three months now, waves upon waves of people have marched to the Kinder Morgan terminal facility on Burnaby Mountain to stand in the way of construction and risk arrest to protect the land, water, and climate from this dangerous pipeline.
Most recently, earlier this week, Kinder Morgan’s Westridge Marine Terminal was shut down by land and by sea as courageous community members surrounded the facility on all sides.
That same day, Indigenous leaders brought a message of resistance to Kinder Morgan’s AGM in Houston, Texas where they led a shareholder revolt to demand accountability on environmental risk.
What now: let’s win against this pipeline
We’re just a few weeks away from Kinder Morgan’s May 31st deadline for Justin Trudeau to spend billions of public dollars bailing out their project.
That means next week we have a chance to act. Next week, Members of Parliament, including members of Trudeau’s cabinet, will be back in their ridings all across Canada, so we need to turn up the head and tell them we want what they promised — real climate action, reconciliation and true environmental protection, not Kinder Morgan.
It’s time to remind them that people voted for change, that many of voted strategically for them, but none of us voted for Kinder Morgan.
