The government must protect citizens from TransCanada’s misinformation on the Energy East pipeline

According to the NDP, TransCanada’s strategy on Energy East, which was recently leaked to the Greenpeace environmental group, shows the company is willing to go to any lengths—including spreading misinformation and manipulating public opinion—to get this pipeline up and running.

“Frustrated citizens are justified in qualifying these acts as cynical and deceptive,” said MP Guy Caron (Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques).

Since coming to power, the Conservative government has systematically eliminated forums for citizens to express their opinions and concerns about hydrocarbon transportation projects such as Energy East.

“TransCanada has massive resources at its disposal to promote this pipeline, while citizens concerned for the environment, their communities and the safety of their families feel they have no way to be heard. With the Conservatives in power, you can be sure that there will be no transparency in the management of this project,” added NDP Energy and Natural Resources critic Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain).

“To make matters worse, the National Energy Board has failed to require that documents be translated before making them public,” added NDP Francophonie critic Pierre Dionne-Labelle (Rivière-du-Nord). “Can you imagine the reaction if the project details were released in French alone? The entire set of French-language documents has yet to be made available. It’s completely unacceptable.”

Energy transportation is a major issue in this country, upon which our economic and ecological future depends. Now citizens are being prevented from participating in the debate. The NDP is clear: we will not draw any conclusions about this project until all the facts are known and the impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions, have been analyzed in a thorough and transparent manner. As of today, none of these steps have been taken on the Energy East pipeline.