LANGLEY (NEWS 1130) – With less than a week to go before Kinder Morgan is expected to make a decision on the future of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, dozens are showing their support for the project today.

Suits and Boots, a new grass roots organization that aims to support the resource sector in Canada, organized five resource rallies across the province in what they dubbed the “largest resource rally in Canada.”

Founder Rick Peterson told the dozens of pipeline supporters who gathered at the Langley rally that they’ve been losing what he calls the ground game and they won’t let anti-pipeline protesters stop the project. “The anti-resource people have been mobilizing, they’ve been financing, they’ve been getting out, they’ve been demonstrating.”

Organizer of rally, Rick Peterson with Suits and Boots- a new “grassroots organization that supports the resource sector in Canada” pic.twitter.com/aVOthl6Hao — Monika Gul (@MonikaGul) May 26, 2018

Signs at the rally read “Yes to pipelines”, “We need strong leadership” and “No delay build today” and many were wearing t-shirts with “I heart pipelines” on it.

“It’s very important for us as a country to move our product to places other than just the U.S.,” says John Lewry, who works in the oil and gas industry and came out to the rally “All you have to do is look at the polls and see that clearly most people are in support of the project and that’s Canada-wide. So I think we’re a lot quieter, I don’t think we raise as much of a stink or a noise.”

Dean Swanberg also works in the oil and gas industry and says environmental concerns are unfounded. “We load 50 million barrels of oil a day, everyday, around the world without incident.”

An anti-pipeline protest in Burnaby back in March attracted thousands of people but Swanberg believes they were paid “By American oil companies that are trying to stop it cause they don’t want us to have any other customers.”

Tamara Jensen, another organizer, calls environmental concerns about the pipeline ridiculous, adding Canada has top notch resources, technology, and work safety records. “And instead, we buy it from Saudi Arabia, where the human rights and the environmental standards are completely horrific.”

Canucks national anthem singer Mark Donnelly, also in attendance, lending his voice to the cause with a singing of ‘O Canada’. He’s a federal conservative nomination candidate for South Surrey White Rock. “I never thought of getting into politics,” he told the rally “I’m a musician but what is happening in Ottawa is unacceptable.”

Canucks national anthem singer, Mark Donnelly, who’s also a Conservative Party of Canada nomination candidate for South Surrey White Rock kicks things off doing what he’s best known for. Says he’s gotten involved in politics because “what’s happening in Ottawa is unacceptable” pic.twitter.com/oAnoDDRcAD — Monika Gul (@MonikaGul) May 26, 2018

The other rallies were in Kitimat, Fort St. John, Fort Nelson and Smithers.