Pro-Resource Rally this Saturday
February 12, 2019, 2:09 am
Kevin Weedmark
Federal Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, and Saskatchewan Senator Denise Batters will visit Moosomin on the February long weekend to speak at a pro-pipeline, pro-resource rally.
The rally will take place this Saturday, February 16 at the new IJack assembly plant just north of Moosomin on Highway 8.
The rally will start at 11 am sharp, and will be followed by a free barbecue.
Brandon-Souris MP Larry Maguire, Dauphin-Swan River MP Robert Sopuck and Saskatchewan MLAs Steven Bonk, Warren Steinley, and Warren Kaeding have all confirmed that they will attend the event as well.
The plan for the rally grew out of efforts by the town and RM of Moosomin to bring discussion of Energy East back to the national agenda.
The town and RM submitted parallel resolutions to SUMA and SARM last winter to ask those organizations to raise the issue with higher levels of government. The town and RM then appointed former SARM president Sinc Harrison to take the lead on the issue.
“The voice of the silent majority needs to be heard,” says Harrison. “Polls that have been done across Canada show there is support for pipelines. To sit back and do nothing is unacceptable, so we will do what we can.
“We were very fortunate to have the Leader of the Opposition, and then Senator Batters, and then the Premier of Saskatchewan agree to come speak at the rally. Hopefully that will help attract the national media, because we want to get our message out to the whole country.
“It took a lot of work by a few people to secure Andrew Scheer as a speaker, but because of his national profile, our event should get a lot of attention, and we want that attention because we have a message that we want to get out to the country—that for places like Moosomin, where people are familiar with pipelines, where people know what pipelines are all about, there’s a lot of support for pipelines.”
Did he think the group would be able to attract such high-profile speakers?
“I’m an eternal optimist,” he says. “When we started on this, we were very hopeful that we could bring in some speakers of a very high calibre. To have Andrew Scheer here and Premier Moe and Senator Batters is what we hoped for. We’re still hopeful the premiers of Manitoba and New Brunswick will be able to come as well. When I found out Premier Moe was coming, I reached out to him and asked if he could speak with those two premiers, and he said he would.”
Invitations had been sent to the premiers of Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and New Brunswick to attend, but the Ontario and Alberta premiers have declined.
Harrison said planning for the rally has gone well so far. “The committee that’s been working on this has been wonderful to work with,” he said. “We have had lots of enthusiasm, we’ve had lots of people offer to help in the community and we’ve had financial contributions from outside the area. It’s amazing how well this has come together.
“The fact that we have the IJack building—a brand-new building that’s associated with the oil industry—will help a lot. Dan McCarthy at IJack has been very accommodating and good to work with. The good thing about the location is we have a quarter section of parking, so parking shouldn’t be an issue. We hope that everyone who has concerns over the future of pipelines and our oil and gas industry can come out and have their voice heard.”
He said he expects a large crowd for the rally, but how large is anyone’s guess.
“It could be 500 or it could be 5,000,” he said. “If it’s 5,000, we’ll have to set up some speakers outside!”
What does he see as the ideal result of efforts to bring attention to the crisis in getting resources to market? “The first thing would be that the Senate would reject Bill C-69. The second would be that TransCanada would reconsider their application to the National Energy Board, and Energy East would get under way, and the Trans-Mountain Pipeline would get under way.”
The three speakers should have a lot to say about the oil and gas industry and pipelines.
In a 2018 interview with the World-Spectator, Andrew Scheer said he supports pipelines. “There is still a market in eastern Canada for western energy,” he said.
“I don’t believe that motorists in Quebec or Ontario or Atlantic Canada are happy that they are importing oil from other countries.
“There are tankers full of oil coming up the St. Lawrence into eastern refineries.
“They killed the (Energy East) project because, as you mentioned, the Trudeau Liberals changed the regulatory process to include both upstream and downstream emissions.
“It’s the only sector of our economy that is now subject to that complete double standard and a standard that is not applied to oil being imported.
“I believe that by removing those conditions and by repealing C69 we could show the investors and companies that you have a government that is going to be a champion of the sector, and hopefully they would come back to the table, so I do think that is possible. Energy East was one of those grand nation building projects that would have brought our country closer together.
“It had support in Atlantic Canada, support in Quebec and Ontario outside of the political realm. Many people in the economy outside of government knew that would be great for the economy, and I think that we could create the conditions for a win on that in a Conservative government and not with the Trudeau Liberal government.”
The entire interview with Andrew Scheer can be found at www.world-spectator.com/news_story.php?id=879. Other background information on Energy East, can be found at www.moosomin.com/energy-east
Premier Scott Moe has spoken on the importance of the oil and gas industry to Saskatchewan.
“This is an industry that creates wealth for all Saskatchewan people and all Canadians, and an industry that we need to support across this country, and we need to speak and speak loudly,” he said at the Rally 4 Resources in Regina in January.
“There are some headwinds coming from our federal government,” he added.
Senator Denise Batters has spoken on the importance of defeating Bill C-69.
“We know the oil industry downturn, which has devastated Alberta, has also harmed Saskatchewan’s economy,” she said at the Regina rally.
“We are fighting for pipelines, and for resources development, and against Trudeau’s do-nothing, costly carbon tax,” she told the crowd at the Regina rally.
Oilfield trucks welcome
Oil and gas companies, pipeline workers and contractors are welcome to bring their trucks and line them up along the North Service Road north of the Trans-Canada Highway.
Volunteers, donations needed
Organizers of the rally are now looking for two things to make the rally a success—volunteers and donations.
Anyone who is interested in volunteering to help with any aspect of the rally can call Bill Thorn at 306-435-9790.
As well, donations to offset costs and to support Canada Action’s show of support for the oil and gas industry are being accepted by the Moosomin Chamber of Commerce, Box 819, Moosomin, SK S0G 3N0. Tweet
