Kootenay Caravan gets surprise visit from high-powered pipeline opponents in Williams Lake
By Contributor
It was a big surprise for the Kootenay to Kitimat Caravan during one of its events on Day Four of the tour opposing the Enbridge pipeline.
In Williams Lake, the Kootenay to Kitimat Caravan set up two mock pipelines in front of City Hall where a group of local activists were waiting.
But out of the crowd came Provincial NDP leader Adrian Dix, who happened to be in town and dropped in at the event with local NDP candidate Charlie Wise.
The other surprise was Kim Slater, an activist who is running the full distance -nearly 1,300 km- of the proposed pipeline in BC.
She was on a short break and stopped in to meet up with the Caravan.
The small crowd of local people on the lawn had been pulled together by John and Claire Dressler and the local Council of Canadians chapter.
Adrian Dix told the crowd the provincial NDP has taken a strong position against the pipeline.
“Back in April we sent a letter to the National Energy Board Joint Review Panel,” Dix said.
“We put it up on the web. We haven’t advertised it and in the last number of weeks 27,000 people have signed on to it.
“It talks about the fact that BC takes all the risk of this pipeline which are considerable . . .. We get all of the risks and none of the benefits.”
“This is a fundamental issue for our democracy . . . we have to make our voices heard louder and louder,” he added.
“I think these different initiatives are very exciting,” Dix said about Kim Slater’s run and about the Caravan.
“We have to work together to make sure it’s a no to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, and it’s a yes to communities that can be sustained in better ways. And if we continue to do that together, get involved together we will achieve those goals.”.
Slater explained that she wants her run to highlight the importance of converting to clean energies, and moving away from tar sands fuel.
She was on Day 10 of four-hours-a-day running and had already done 300 kilometres.
“We are really in a position where we are going to be left behind,” Slater said. “Just a month ago, Germany reached a plus 50% mark getting most of their energy from solar. China is investing $36.5 billion a year into renewables.”
“It’s not going to happen overnight, it’s going to be a transition. But without a clear vision of where we want to go that transition just isn’t going to happen,” she added.
The stalwart Williams Lake crowd cheered when Caravaner Keith Wiley told them the message of the project:
“In the Kootenays, in Kelowna and throughout the southern interior there are thousands of people who are opposed to the Enbridge pipeline project. We are here support you.”
The event came on Day Four for the Caravan, after launch day from Nelson Monday, July 16th.
Vocal activists from Kelowna came out to meet the Caravaners on Day Two, with a banner that read No Tar Sands, No Pipeline, No Tankers.
On Day Three, NDP candidate Thomas Friedman brought people out to meet the Caravan in front of City Hall in Kamloops. The group carried the Caravan’s black 20 foot pipeline up the street doing Occupy-style, “mic check” chants, like Stop the Enbridge Pipeline.
From Williams Lake the Caravan continued on Day Four to hold small events meeting with groups of activists in Prince George and Fort St. James.
News media have shown strong interest and there has been lots of coverage of the Caravan events.
The four-person Caravan, “the Geezer gang”, carries on with their travels, moving on to more events in Fort St. James, Fort Fraser, Burns Lake, Smithers, the Hazeltons and Kitimat.
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