The Council of Canadians Victoria chapter hosted Maude Barlow at a public forum that attracted a full-house of 150 people at the University of Victoria this afternoon.
The forum was presented by The Council of Canadians, The University of Victoria UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme, and The Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA).
Vancouver-based Council of Canadians water campaigner Emma Lui tweeted, “@MaudeBarlow @uvic today! Talking about water issues like dangers of #KinderMorgan, how it will harm public health when (not if) it spills.” The 890,000 barrel Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline would cross 1,063 waterways in the province. Tree clearing and site preparation for the pipeline is expected to begin this September with construction on the pipeline itself to begin in January 2018.
And the Victoria chapter tweeted, “Protecting natural wetlands is an important part of #ClimateAction @MaudeBarlow at #UVIC #CanClimateAction”
Lui has also commented, “It’s key we press election candidates on issues like Kinder Morgan, Site C, fracking and LNG, Nestle and bottled water, logging, federal water legislation, the Water Sustainability Act and more!”
A Mainstreet/Postmedia poll released yesterday showed that the NDP have 36 per cent support, the Liberals 33 per cent, the Greens 19 per cent, and the undecided vote is at about 25 per cent. There are suggestions now that this could result in a minority government, the first in 65 years.
Voting day for the election is May 9.
The tour was also Courtenay (April 6) and Nanaimo (April 7) and now proceeds to Williams Lake (April 10), and Kamloops (April 11). These events are all being organized by local Council of Canadians chapters. For details on this tour, please click here.
