OTTAWA — Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says she’s ready to engage in civil unrest and go to jail fighting the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Tuesday the approval of the controversial $6.8-billion project that twins an existing line and increases capacity to 890,000 barrels a day. That triples the current volume of crude oil that currently travels between Edmonton and Burnaby, B.C., the third-largest city in the province and increases the tanker traffic in the Vancouver harbour much to the dismay of the city's residents.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May speaks in the House of Commons on Oct. 3, 2016. (Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/CP) “If there are blockades as construction begins, I’m more than prepared to be there to block construction and be arrested and go to jail. This is not an issue where you compromise,” May told The Huffington Post Canada just before Trudeau's announcement. May said her constituents want her to “stand in solidarity” against the 1,150-kilometre pipeline with indigenous groups and other local politicians, even if that includes risking jail time. “That is the level of commitment that people feel to fighting Kinder Morgan,” she said. The Green Party leader said she had never been arrested in her life but she believes there is a role for non-violent civil disobedience.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May and her daughter Victoria Cate May Burton participate in a rally against the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion in Vancouver, B.C. on Nov. 19, 2016. (Photo: Darryl Dyck/CP) Not only do the Liberals have no social license to approve Kinder Morgan, May said, the government also has “no evidentiary case” to proceed with the pipeline. “The National Energy Board process was a sham, there was no testing of the evidence, there was no cross-examination, there is no factual evidentiary case that if you can clean up bitumen mixed with diluent (a thinning agent) spilling in a marine environment,” May said. Two weeks ago, more than 4,000 British Columbians marched to protest the potential approval of Kinder Morgan. Opponents say the pipeline expansion will result in more greenhouse gas emissions and increases the risks to B.C.'s picturesque coast.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson told HuffPost before the march that he still hoped the government would respect Vancouverites and First Nation concerns and “do the right thing and say no to Kinder Morgan.” “If they don’t, I would expect it will be ugly,” he said. Speaking in a video message Tuesday, Robertson said he was "profoundly disappointed" by the Liberal government's decision. "This is a huge step backwards for Canada's economy and environment and for climate change," he said, adding that the project was driven by former Stephen Harper's Conservative government through a flawed process.