In response to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s announcement that the Pacific Link pipeline will be listed as a Project of National Interest under the Build Canada Act, Greenpeace Canada said:
“The only thing moving faster than the Prime Minister’s bulldozing of environmental laws and Indigenous rights is the unprecedented speed with which our would-be future customers in Europe and Asia are building solar power and wind farms to protect themselves against increasingly unreliable and conflict-ridden oil and gas imports. In the wake of the wars in Ukraine and Iran, oil and gas are recognized as a source of overwhelming economic, environmental and geopolitical risk, so why would the Government of Canada willingly burden all of us with a $40 billion taxpayer-funded pipeline? Renewable energy is faster and cheaper to build, and more beneficial for our communities.” – Keith Stewart, Senior Energy Specialist, Greenpeace Canada
“Projects of national interest are starting to look like Carney’s roadmap to destroying Canada’s nature and sidelining Indigenous rights in the process. Building a pipeline to the Fraser River Estuary–a critical habitat for wildlife–would bring more oil tankers into the fragile Salish Sea, putting the survival of animals like salmon and southern resident orcas at risk. Carney is not listening to Indigenous nations, scientists, environmentalists, or the thousands of people who oppose his bulldoze nature agenda, instead he is forcing through an orca-killer pipeline, which begs the question: what part of this project is in our “national interest”? Wasting billions in taxpayer money to kill endangered orcas?
Nature is the ultimate bottom line, a foundation for stability, healthy communities and a livable future. Nature is also central to Canadians’ identity, so we should not have to choose between the economy and a healthy environment, and we are expecting our elected government to achieve both at the same time. Another pipeline will not make life more affordable for people in Canada, instead we demand stronger nature protections that center Indigenous leadership and governance, ensure we halt and reverse nature loss, and build towards a future where both humans prosper and nature flourish.” – Salomé Sané, Nature & Biodiversity campaigner
Notes:
Two days earlier, Prime Minister Carney announced a $1.2 billion ocean protection investment, including expanded Canadian Coast Guard capacity, stronger fisheries enforcement, and a new environmental recovery framework. The announcement of these ocean protection measures mirrors Trudeau’s unveiling of the $1.5 billion Oceans Protection Plan ahead of approving the Trans Mountain Pipeline in 2016.
“However, ocean conservation does not go “hand in hand” with a new pipeline to the fragile Fraser River Estuary. True protection requires moving away from the projects that are driving the climate and biodiversity crises in the first place.” – Sien Van den broeke, Oceans campaigner
For more information, contact:
Patou Oumarou, Communications Campaigner, Greenpeace Canada
[email protected], +1 (418) 431-0263