About 90 people attended a rally in 91原创 Township Saturday to show support for the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline.
鈥淭he numbers that come out is not as important as the message that we鈥檙e delivering,鈥� said Rick Peterson, founder of , the group that organized the event .
Suits and Boots describes itself as a 鈥済rassroots organization that brings together business people from across Canada to support and defend Canada鈥檚 resource industry workers and their families.鈥�
The 91原创 event was one of five such rallies held simultaneously across B.C.
The others were held in Fort St. John, Kitimat, Smithers and Fort Nelson.
Peterson said the month-old Suits and Boots group aims to balance the discussion about the pipeline by providing the viewpoint of people who think the project is a good idea.
鈥淭he anti-resource people are winning the ground game,鈥� Peterson said.
The 91原创 event was hosted by businesswoman Tamara Jansen, who told those who attended that the arguments against the project were 鈥渘onsensical.鈥�
鈥淲e have been quiet for far too long,鈥� Jansen said.
鈥淲hat we need to do is go back to good old fashioned common sense.鈥�
Cheam First Nation Chief Ernie Crey said he is not the only First Nations leader to support the pipeline expansion, which he said has already produced jobs for their communities.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be involved in the construction of this pipeline,鈥� Crey said, describing the risk of a spill as 鈥渋mperceptible.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e not hesitating in our support,鈥� Crey said.
Crey said the project opponents have been dominating the pipeline debate because they 鈥渨ere first out of the gates and put a lot of people on the ground.鈥�
鈥淎 lot of these people come from (the) pasta and latte row on Commercial Drive in Vancouver,鈥� Crey said.
Chilliwack-Kent Liberal MLA Laurie Throness said premier John Horgan was putting 鈥渉is coalition with the radical Greens鈥� over the interests of British Columbians.
Surrey-Cloverdale MLA Marvin Hunt called the protests against the pipeline 鈥渢he absolute theatre of the absurd.鈥�
Justin Greenwood, the interim deputy leader of the B.C. Conservative Party, was one of several speakers to blast the NDP government in Victoria for favouring train transport of oil over pipelines.
Referring to the Lac-M茅gantic rail disaster that involved a massive explosion caused by a crash of tanker cars with petroleum crude oil, Greenwood said that was something no one wanted to see in B.C.
鈥淚t is in the nation鈥檚 best interest that this (pipeline expansion) be built,鈥� Greenwood said.
(Click below to view archived live feed of rally)
The 91原创 rally comes five days before the May 31 deadline set out by Kinder Morgan to decide whether it will proceed with the Trans Mountain pipeline.
dan.ferguson@langleytimes.com
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