THUNDER BAY -- A local anti-oil pipeline activist believes there will be climate change consequences after the federal government approved two pipelines on Wednesday but also that the move could bring on political consequences for the Liberal Party.
The Council of Canadians' Thunder Bay chapter president Ruth Cook used the word "disappointment" to describe Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's declared support for the Trans Mountain Pipeline through British Columbia and the Line 3 Pipeline from the Alberta oil sands through southern Manitoba.
A third proposal through northern British Columbia known as the Northern Gateway was rejected.
Cook claimed Trudeau has been holding contradictory policies, being a self-declared "climate champion" pushing for more stringent environmental targets on the international stage while still claiming at home that Canadian products need to reach global markets.
She believes the sentiment that made Trudeau hesitant to support oil pipelines as a universal policy in the 2015 election still exists.
"Mr. Trudeau talked a lot about social license when he was talking about pipelines in the election," Cook said.
"He said, among other things, that the National Energy Board process for reviewing all energy projects didn't have social licence. He recognized there was a certain level of opposition so if we can indicate to them that that level of opposition still continues, at some point, he'll have to recognize it."
Cook expects local environmentalists will likely stage a demonstration along with a letter-writing campaign aimed at convincing both Liberal Thunder Bay MPs that these pipelines represent unwelcome, long-term commitments to fossil fuels.
"Every project approved now is designed to allow the expansion of the operations in the tar sands, to increase the profits of the fossil fuel companies and climate change affects us all," she said.
"If we don't somehow force our governments to take climate change seriously and deal with it on all fronts open to them, I think we all need to be concerned."
The Council of Canadians will count itself into a coalition of environmental activists that will return to city council on Dec. 12 voicing opposition to the TransCanada Energy East Pipeline, which would flow just north of the city if approved.
Council passed a resolution to delay taking a stand for or against the pipeline in August 2015. Cook said time has only made the case against Energy East stronger.
"Our push is, we have a whole bunch of new information about safety concerns and spill concerns and we have a whole lot of new information about climate change adn the implications of pipeline development," she said.
"Trudeau has been forced to alter the makeup of the National Energy Board. He has been forced to alter the process. We'd like to see more alterations in the process before they pick up the reviews again."
