United Conservative MLAs backed a Motion Tuesday to support all 20 elected Indigenous Chiefs and Councils situated along the Coastal GasLink pipeline route, while the Notley NDP voted in solidarity with the illegal protestors seeking to shut the project down.
“Our United Conservative government stands firmly with all 20 elected Chiefs and Councils along the Coastal GasLink pipeline route, the rule of law, and Indigenous participation in the resource economy. The Notley NDP, meanwhile, continue to support the illegal activists who are trying to shut this critical infrastructure project down,” Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo MLA Tany Yao said. “The Notley NDP’s irresponsible position ignores the will of the elected Indigenous leaders and an order from the B.C. Supreme Court, and it highlights why the NDP cannot be trusted to deliver on energy infrastructure projects. This is more of the same of their economic incompetence.”
The NDP has been standing firm in their support of the illegal Coastal GasLink pipeline protestors, even passing at a resolution at their Provincial Council in solidarity with them. In a special submission to the National Post, members of Gidimt’en Clan said at the request of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation, “We want the protesters to cease their blockades and stop misleading people … our traditions and way of life are being misrepresented and dishonoured by a small group of protesters, many of whom are neither Gidimt’en nor Wet’suwet’en, but nonetheless claim to be acting in our name to protest natural gas development.”
“First Nations in my region have worked successfully with industry for years to benefit from our vibrant energy economy,” Yao said. “It’s unfortunate that the Notley NDP and others continue to try and stand in the way of this kind of economic participation.”
