Toronto / 10 January 2022 – Peggy Nash, MP for Parkdale–High Park and NDP leadership candidate, has come out swinging against the Harper government’s aggressive interference with the Enbridge pipeline’s environmental assessment.

“Harper’s latest smear campaign against credible environmental organizations is an attempt to distract Canadians from the real issue,” said Nash. “A majority of Canadians agree that the control of Canada’s natural resources should not be ceded to big business, yet that’s exactly what the Harper Conservatives want to do.”

The proposed Enbridge pipeline project would ship raw bitumen crude to Kitimat, BC over 1200 kilometers of mountains and rivers and through 100 First Nations territories for shipment to Asia by supertanker through treacherous coastal waters. The Harper Conservatives voted down an NDP bill that would have legislated a ban on tankers along the north coast.

“Protecting coastal communities should be a priority for all parties,” Nash continued. “Their livelihoods depend on a healthy ocean, but the Harper Conservatives insist on protecting their friends in the oil sands instead of this precious natural heritage.”

“And Harper has the nerve to call environmentalists ideologically driven.”

Polls show that the majority of British Columbians are opposed to the Enbridge pipeline and more concerned about foreign control over the oil sands than the US funding of Canadian NGOs Harper’s PR machine has been touting.

“In solidarity with the 100 First Nations and coastal communities impacted by this reckless project, I will continue to challenge Harper’s blatant disregard for Canadians’ wishes, and will fight for environmental regulations and strengthening of the Canadian Environment Assessment Act,” affirmed Nash.

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