VANCOUVER - Approving the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion through unceded territory during a climate emergency is an unforgivable betrayal of people in Canada and around the world who are already suffering its impacts, says the Wilderness Committee.

“How can Canada, as wildfires and floods rage all around us and our citizens are forced to flee their homes, choose to make the climate crisis worse?” said Climate Campaigner Peter McCartney. “Building the Trans Mountain pipeline is a slap in the face to every young person across the country who worries for what a hotter future holds.”

Trans Mountain would increase emissions from the Alberta tar sands by 20 per cent while Premier Jason Kenney scraps plans to cap the sector’s pollution. Oil and gas is already the largest source of greenhouse gases in Canada, with more climate impact than all transportation. 

With the conversation around climate change quickly evolving as its impacts show up in Canadian communities, public opinion may turn against the project even despite the recent onslaught of ads from the Alberta government.

“A permit is not a pipeline and Trans Mountain should not kid themselves into thinking this will be easy,” said McCartney. “New court challenges and further civil disobedience could delay this project for years to come — and every year the case against it only gets stronger.”

For the first time ever, climate change is a top issue for many Canadians heading into the federal election in October. Prime Minister Trudeau has taken a major gamble by approving Trans Mountain just four months beforehand. 

“I find it hard to believe they plan to fight an election on climate change just months after approving a controversial project that will make the crisis even worse,” said McCartney. “It’s going to be a long, hot summer in more ways than one.”

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For more information, please contact:

Peter McCartney | Climate Campaigner
778-239-1935, peter@wildernesscommittee.org