The United Conservative Caucus condemns the Notley NDP for endorsing illegal protests against the Coastal GasLink pipeline in B.C., a project supported by every elected First Nations Chief and Council along the project’s route.
The Alberta NDP Provincial Council passed a resolution endorsing the illegal pipeline blockades this past weekend. High-profile NDP MLAs like Janis Irwin and Richard Feehan have also added their support to the resolution.
“The paternalistic and anti-energy Notley NDP is at it again. Not only does this resolution ignore a clear order from the B.C. Supreme Court, but it ignores the will of elected First Nations Leaders all along the Coastal GasLink project route,” United Conservative MLA Searle Turton said. “The NDP are showing their true colours once again. They don’t support our energy industry and they don’t support working families.”
Coastal GasLink has already spent more than $60 million locally in Northern B.C., including $3 million on community investment initiatives, education, and job training. Over the course of the project, $1 billion in employment and contract opportunities will be available for local and Indigenous communities. As of January 2020, more than 350 Indigenous men and women, including Wet’suwet’en members, are working on the Coastal GasLink project. This represents 25 per cent of the project’s workforce.
“This project has had a tremendously positive economic impact for First Nations communities in northern B.C., hence why all 20 elected First Nations Chiefs and Councils along the project’s route are supporting it,” Turton said. “It’s disgusting to see the Notley NDP supporting illegal protestors who are fighting to destroy these jobs and economic opportunities.”
