Two Ottawa-area climate activists briefly disrupted debate in the House of Commons Wednesday, unfurling a banner and interrupting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to insist that he #showusthescience to prove that Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion can safely be built.
350 Canada has given Trudeau a March 5 deadline to answer the question, and is running a sign-on to build public support.
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“Excuse me, Prime Minister Trudeau?” said 350 Canada organizer Katie Perfitt, just after 3 PM local time. “You say that the Kinder Morgan pipeline is safe for the climate, the B.C. coast, and respects Indigenous rights. Where’s the proof? Show us the science.”
“Climate scientists have said Kinder Morgan doesn’t fit with our climate goals, oil spill experts have told us a spill in the Pacific Ocean is all but inevitable, and Indigenous peoples are currently fighting this project’s approval in court,” added Gatineau resident Daniel Cayley-Daoust. “Either Justin Trudeau isn’t telling us something, or he’s simply putting our climate, the coast, and Indigenous rights in jeopardy for crass political gain.”
The two were quickly ushered out of the Commons gallery by Parliament Hill security.
Pointing to Trudeau’s employment history before he entered politics, Perfitt said the PM should know better.
“Justin Trudeau was a schoolteacher, so he should understand the necessity of showing your work,” she said in a release. “We need to see the evidence, and if Trudeau doesn’t release it by March 5, we’re going to be forced to try and find it ourselves.”
