Ralliers decry Kinew’s pro-pipeline policy

Almost 300 people braved the rain Saturday afternoon to demand Premier Wab Kinew and the NDP government take action on climate change.

A crowd donning rain jackets and umbrellas gathered on Osborne Street in front of the Fort Rouge Leisure Centre next to Kinew’s constituency office with posters decrying proposed pipelines and Manitoba’s extreme wildfire season.

“Watching how the weather has changed due to climate change has been really concerning to me. I look outside every day and I think about it,” said Ashley Blackshaw, an environmental studies graduate who drove to Winnipeg from Starbuck to attend Saturday’s rally.

Blackshaw made a custom sign bearing lyrics from rock band Smashmouth’s hit “All Star” saying “The ice we’re skating is getting pretty thin.”

Petitions for action on pipelines and climate change changed hands while soup and coffee was served nearby.

The climate rally was joined by dozens of people calling for an end to the war on the Gaza strip, which will enter its third year on Oct. 7. Protesters carried Palestine flags and wore keffiyehs, which are traditional Palestinian wares.

The rally was part of a global day of action where more than 60 protests across Canada were staged for various causes including climate and economic justice, as well as Indigenous rights, migrant rights and anti-genocide movements

The Winnipeg rally, organized by several groups including the Climate Action Team, was staged in front of the premier’s constituency office owing to his support for pipelines and federal Bill C-5, which would allow the government to fast-track projects deemed “nation-building,” according to board member Andrea Pelletier.

“I think a lot of people are disappointed in his pro-pipeline policies, and I think maybe are feeling unheard by the NDP government,” Pelletier said. “He needs to know that people are disappointed with the direction he’s going.”

In June Kinew met with Prime Minister Mark Carney and his fellow premiers and territorial leaders in Saskatoon to discuss nation-building projects, including how to get natural resources to tidewater to ship overseas, rather than relying on the U.S. as a trading partner, which included a proposed pipeline to Hudson Bay.

At the time Kinew said it was time to deliberate investments in northern infrastructure investments in the port, but there was a way to do it while remaining a “climate-friendly” jurisdiction.

Blackshaw said time is of the essence and referenced Manitoba’s wildfire season, which was deemed the province’s worst in 30 years.

The 28-year-old hosted several people who were evacuated over the summer owing to wildfires and saw the fires’ impact firsthand.

“I’m not very old, but I recognize how things have changed even from my childhood,” she said. “It’s been a big concern for me.”

Clayton Thomas-Müller, a local activist who spoke at Saturday’s rally, is from Mathias Colomb Cree Nation (Pukatawagan) which has been evacuated since May 28 owing to wildfires which devastated northern Manitoba. He says the fires have disrupted his community’s way of life and points to climate change as the primary driver.

Thomas-Müller said it was time to hold Kinew’s feet to the fire.

“We need to give Wab s—-,” he said. “We have an opportunity right now to get Canada off of fossil fuels in response to climate science, and we shouldn’t have to consent to more mines, more pipelines.

“Manitoba is really a beacon right now under the leadership of the NDP government, we just need to support them by protesting the crazy stuff that they’re proposing and by celebrating the good things that they’re doing.”

Blackshaw agrees.

“I would like for Wab Kinew to pick up the energy that he used to have when he was leader of the opposition party,” she said. “Back before the NDP came into power, he used to be very critical of the of the PC government’s denial of climate change, and now he is happily posting and making Tik Toks about pushing forth a pipeline through a very delicate ecosystem.”

Kinew’s constituency office was not open to the public Saturday afternoon.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca