Anti-pipeline protest are planned today outside MLAs' offices in 63 communities across the province, following Monday's Defend Our Coast rally in Victoria, according to media reports.
CBC is reporting this morning that organizers of Monday's rally are buoyed by the turnout of several thousand people outside B.C.'s legislature yesterday to protest Enbridge Inc.'s (TSX: ENB) proposed Northern Gateway pipeline and the planned expansion of Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline.
The organizers hope thousands more take part at similar "Defend Our Coast" rallies today.
Local organizer Nadia Novak, of Prince George, says the issue has united British Columbians.
"We've never seen communities coming together like this, just the fact that we have over 63 communities willing to work together to defend the coast. It's pretty monumental," Novak said.
Novak said their message is directed at all members of the provincial government, which so far has expressed a lack of confidence in the proposed pipeline project and has demanded much higher revenue from the pipeline if it is ever built.
"We want B.C. to take a firm stand, to enforce a permanent tanker [ban] on new oil traffic on B.C.'s coast, and so effectively that will also stop these pipelines from coming."
Novak said there are currently no rallies planned targeting the federal government, even though Ottawa has the final say on pipeline decisions.
"Hopefully, this message will reach [Ottawa]," she said.
The Northern Gateway pipeline proposed by Enbridge is in the midst of review panel hearings in Prince George, led by former attorney-general Geoff Plant, who spoke to Business in Vancouver about the province's concerns last week.
