A town hall meeting to be held this weekend in downtown Guelph is part of a national effort against the federal government’s planned buyout of the Kinder Morgan Trans-Mountain pipeline expansion project.
Steve Dyck, co-organizer of Sunday's town hall meeting, said the government’s decision to purchase the Kinder Morgan pipeline assets for $4.5 billion touch on topics, including water protection, climate change and Canada’s Paris Accord commitments, that align with many people in the city of Guelph.
“Rivers run through our community and protecting them matters to us,” said Dyck. “It is in Guelph's veins. We see how vulnerable our drinking water supply is to corporate interests such as the Dolime Quarry, Nestle and Xinyl.”
Also important, said Dyck, are consultations with Indigenous people.
“Guelph cares about respectful consultation with First Nations Peoples and purchasing the pipeline puts our government in a dual role as regulator and proponent. Protecting people from industrial overstep is the difficult job that we depend on the government to do,” said Dyck. “Justin Trudeau is making it impossible when his government tries to compete with oil companies driven by profit motives."
Especially concerning, said Dyck, is the federal government’s decision to take ownership of the pipeline.
“People are concerned about the ethical situation the government is placing itself into,” said Dyck. “It is tough to regulate something that you own — we can look to Russia for examples of business and government being one.”
The town hall meeting takes place at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Bookshelf eBar and will include a screening of a new documentary, titled Directly Affected: A Pipeline under Pressure.
The film is being screened courtesy of 350.org, a climate activism group based in the U.S.
Dyck hoped that Liberal MP for Guelph Lloyd Longfield would have held his own town hall meeting on the topic, but Sunday’s meeting was organized by himself and Brian Ostrow instead under the auspices of the Guelph Citizens Climate Lobby.
Longfield has been invited to the town hall but has indicated he will be out of town, said Dyck.
“We asked if he could join us by Skype but he said that would not work,” said Dyck of the invitation to Longfield. “He did ask for a report from our town hall.”
Dyck said it seems that Longfield is taking direction from elsewhere on the Kinder Morgan purchase and may have chosen to limit the discussion locally.
Responding to a call for comment, Longfield said the federal government has held climate town halls and that the proposed pipeline asset purchase has been part of those discussions.
"I have met with numerous constituents on this issue and continue to welcome input from my constituents," said Longfield.
Last month, protesters demonstrated in front of Longfield’s Cork Street office in opposition to the plans to purchase the pipeline assets. The protest was not directly linked to organizers of Sunday's meeting.
Although Guelph is situated nowhere near the existing and proposed pipeline assets, Dyck said it is important for Longfield’s constituents to be heard on the issue.
“There is no business case to justify Canada purchasing this relic — especially when the XL pipeline and Line 3 are being built. Why would we risk the BC coast when Canada could become a clean energy leader instead."
