Wildrose blames pipeline hearings cancellation on NDP; government calls that ‘ridiculous’

Wildrose Leader Brian Jean is putting some of the blame on Monday’s Energy East hearing cancellations at the feet of the provincial government, which the NDP is calling ridiculous.

Opposition Leader Brian Jean put out a statement following the cancellations, caused by a protestor storming into one of the hearings as large pro and anti-Energy East protests took place outside.

“The protest in Montreal this morning that forced the cancellation of NEB hearings on the Energy East pipeline is the most clear evidence to date of the failure of Premier Rachel Notley’s plan to gain social license by increasing taxes on Albertans and capping oilsands development,” Jean said.

He added there’s no appeasement for such groups and there won’t be any ‘social license’ gained by taxing Albertans.

“In light of these protests, the Premier needs to take the carbon tax off the table, so Alberta families who are already hurting aren’t punished any further,” he said.

In an interview with 660 NEWS, Environment Minister Shannon Phillips slammed the accusation.

“The idea that it’s got anything to do with Alberta is patently ridiculous,” Phillips said. “That falls well within the line of many of the things the leader of the official opposition says.”

Phillips said there’s going to be voices of opposition based on years of provincial and federal neglect on climate change and they will take them head on.

“We have been the ones to put oil sands executives on the same stage as environmental voices, some of the most powerful oil companies on the continent with some of the loudest environmental voices to say look, this is a reasonable path forward for Alberta,” she said.

She added the idea of denying the science of climate change leads the province to a dead end with less market access and diversification.

Three people were arrested during the protests and Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said it turned into a circus.

Late Monday, the National Energy Board announced it would postpone the Energy East panel session that was scheduled for Tuesday.

It isn’t clear when it will resume.

Groups both for and against the pipeline yelled at each other during the outdoor protests and Coderre said the hearings were not impartial.

“There’s too many problems that we are witnessing to accept that project, so we’re saying that the project that they present is wrong, is bad and we don’t have the answers,” he said.

However, Phillips said she’s optimistic going forward.

“We know that pipelines are a safe way to transport product, we have acted on the questions related to climate change, what we have said is that the National Energy Board must listen to those voices and then make a determination,” she said. “What the Harper Government did and with Mr. Jean cheerleading behind them is make a situation where communities saw that processed as rigged and that’s why the process has to be restored.”