Prime Minister Trudeau will be in Kamloops Wednesday‬ for a fundraiser event in preparation for the federal election. It’s a unique opportunity to show him and the media that many of us here don’t support his pipeline deal.

Please join me with your signs and enthusiasm! Given the large pro-pipeline rallies in Alberta recently, BC needs to show up in force to show the PM we are holding strong.

There are two ways to participate.
1 - Buy a ticket to attend the fundraiser. Only a few of us will be able to afford this: tickets cost $300, $200 or $75 for students. Here’s where you can get a ticket:
‪http://event.liberal.ca/en/events/Kamloops/20‬

2 - The rest of us will gather with our signs and banners at the door for free!

Try to bring along a sign or banner that expresses what YOU think of the Trans Mountain pipeline and Trudeau’s determination to build it.

If you’d like to donate funds to help Secwepemc leaders attend Trudeau’s event, you can e-transfer to dawn@wildsalmoncaravan.ca or write to Dawn Morrison at the same email address.

I intend this event to be peaceful and non-violent. Snacks to share and a few lawn chairs would be appreciated. Dress warmly as we’ll be outside. Your drums are welcome.

My reasons:
- Scientists tell us we have only a short window of 12 years to avoid catastrophic climate change. It’s critical that we take the steps to address this. We need to level out and reduce oil production, not expand it with another pipeline.

- The new Trans Mountain pipeline would offer only 50 new jobs in B.C. once it’s operational, according to the company’s application to the NEB. Compare that to the huge risks to salmon, ecosystems, human health, and the many thousands of jobs in the tourism and fisheries sectors. The combined old and new pipelines, if construction is completed, will carry 890,000 barrels of oil and diluted bitumen every day, or 618 barrels per minute! A lot of damage can occur very fast at that rate.

- We shouldn’t be subsidizing the fossil fuel industry. Canada regularly subsidizes the industry by $3 billion dollars per year. Now we have also bought the Trans Mountain pipeline for $4.5 billion, a number that will rise to $15-20 billion by the time construction is done, according to economist Robyn Allan.

- Many Indigenous nations are opposed to the pipeline construction. They have constitutional rights and title that have not been respected so far. We need to do much better than this.

Let’s do everything we can to leave a liveable planet for our young people. I hope you can join me Wednesday.