"The government has not responded to the protests in a way that is favourable to the opinions of protesters"

MP's will feel the heat of the Kinder Morgan buyout with rallies planned at their offices across Canada

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Hoping to get the Prime Minister to reverse his government’s decision to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline, those who oppose the expansion project will be rallying outside their MP’s offices on Monday.

“The goal is to unite folks across the country and send a very clear message to the Prime Minister that this is now a national issue,” says Jacqueline Lee-Tam, organizer of the rally outside Vancouver Liberal MP Hedy Fry’s constituency office “By buying the pipeline with taxpayer money he has created a national issue out of this.”

She says over 80 rallies will be taking place across Canada for the National Day of Action to Stop the Kinder Morgan Buyout, with protesters wearing red to symbolize their outrage with the buyout. Dozens of similar protests have taken place over several months and with the feds still set on moving the pipeline project forward, Lee-Tam admits they haven’t been successful so far.

“The government has not responded to the protests in a way that is favourable to the opinions of protesters.” She’s hopeful now that taxpayers are involved, rallies will bring about change.

Peter Prontzos, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Langara College says protests have been effective in stopping projects in the past, pointing to the battle for Clayoquot Sound back in the early 1990’s and the Oka standoff the same decade.

“The combination of both the activists and citizens and First Nations, who were bringing the issue to the public to make the case for their position and the courts were key in that one.”

He says protests also play a role in educating people about what the issues are, adding if it’s not protests, the courts- brought into the issue through public opposition- can also put an end to the project.

“First Nations and others have apparently some very strong legal cases from what I understand. I don’t see how they can ultimately get around that.”

As for claims that anti-pipeline protesters are paid- “That is just absolutely ridiculous,” says Prontzos “It’s the petroleum industry, the fossil fuel industry that has literally billions of dollars. Environmental groups are midgets compared to them.”