After initially being shut out, the North Shore will now have a sit-down meeting with the federal panel consulting the public on Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline application.
Previously, Natural Resources Canada had only set meetings in Burnaby and Vancouver, irking local activists.
A North Shore meeting has now been added to the panel’s schedule on Aug. 19, with time and location to be announced. So far, the panel has indicated there will be an invitational roundtable for local government and public town hall with open participation.
The move is being greeted warmly by members of North Shore NOPE, a local group campaigning against the pipeline expansion. NOPE founder Janice Edmonds had been lobbying North Vancouver’s MPs to add a North Shore meeting to focus on local concerns.
Terry Beech, MP for Burnaby North-Seymour, alerted Edmonds to the change on Tuesday morning.
“MP Jonathan Wilkinson and I both expressed our concerns that North Vancouver wasn’t on the list,” he said in an email to the North Shore News. “I was very pleased to hear that the ministerial panel will now be hosting a meeting on the North Shore.”
Now Edmonds is looking to boost turnout for the meeting. “We want lots and lots of people to attend the meeting. We want the MPs and the municipal (councils) to promote the meetings and we want many people to attend, including the mayors and council,” she said.
Specifically, Edmonds said she is hoping people with a science background will show up.
“We want to engage the public and we want to engage people with expert knowledge in specific areas about pipelines, climate change, health ... to come forward and speak up,” she said.
To enquire about presenting at the Aug. 19 meeting or to send materials for the panel to consider, the public can email [email protected].
