A town hall in Nanaimo has brought confrontation between the prime minister and people who are upset about pipeline expansion.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is at Vancouver Island University today, Feb. 2, for his only B.C. stop on a cross-country town hall tour.
At Friday’s event at the university gym, some members of the audience heckled and booed the PM and expressed opposition to Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.
Trudeau became frustrated at the interruptions, at one point saying, “Come on. Come on. Really? Really?” and asking a protester to leave.
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It's gotten a bit nuts in terms of the audience yelling and interrupting. Here's another sample of what's happened here and how @JustinTrudeau has handled it. pic.twitter.com/TrOn7QJ0Kl
— Nicholas M Pescod (@npescod) February 2, 2018
He said Canada is moving forward with an ocean-protection plan for the B.C. coast. He said the country is protecting the environment through national carbon pricing and an absolute cap on oil-sands emission and intends to reach climate goals and Paris commitments.
“But in order to do that, part of moving forward is approving the Kinder Morgan pipeline which will be able to get our resources responsibly and safely to new markets across the Pacific,” Trudeau said. “It is something that many people feel very strongly about, but that is the nature of the compromise we had to make in the best interests of Canada to grow the economy, to protect the environment and at the same time we have to make tough decisions. That’s exactly what I did…
“It is in the national interest to make forward with the Kinder Morgan pipeline and we will be moving forward with the Kinder Morgan pipeline.”
This article will be updated.
For more, follow @npescod and @NanaimoBulletin on Twitter.
Plenty of people here at @VIUniversity waiting for @JustinTrudeau to arrive for his town hall. #Nanaimo #JTinYCD #PMTownHall pic.twitter.com/oN8ztZtrfB
— Nicholas M Pescod (@npescod) February 2, 2018
#Nanaimo #PMTownHall @NanaimoBulletin Lineup is huge for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau town hall in Nanaimo this morning. pic.twitter.com/T0DHEAR3yw
— Nanaimo Bulletin (@NanaimoBulletin) February 2, 2018
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