Victoria MP barred from Enbridge public hearing at local hotel

Staff / Times Colonist
January 4, 2013

Douglas Channel, the proposed termination point for an oil pipeline in the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project, is pictured in an aerial view in Kitimat, B.C., on Tuesday January 10, 2012.The effects of a tanker port and increased tanker traffic off the west coast will be front and centre at hearings into the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline this week, as proponents and critics convene for another round of hearings.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The public hearing into the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline began in Victoria this morning with a local federal politician barred from the proceedings.

Just before 9 a.m., Victoria NDP member of Parliament Murray Rankin was prohibited from entering the hearing at the Delta Ocean Pointe hotel and told to observe the proceedings from a room with a live video feed, three kilometres away at the Ramada Hotel on Gorge Road.

Organizers said attendees to the live proceedings would include only those registered and the joint review panel. They wanted to ensure speakers could be heard respectfully, without noisy demonstrations.

More than 4,000 people applied to give oral evidence before the review panel and Enbridge alone filed more than 20,000 pages of documents.

By noon, seven presenters at the hearing opposed the pipeline while a small handful of people watched from the remote site.

About 100 protesters, including three naked people behind a banner reading “Vulnerable” gathered outside the Delta Ocean Pointe hotel. Several protests are planned throughout the day.

The hearings will continue Saturday and all next week.

For full coverage and commentary on the Enbridge hearings, pick up the Saturday print edition of the Times Colonist and visit timescolonist.com