Carr, McKenna holding town halls before Liberal convention

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This article was published 24/5/2016 (904 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna and Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr are each hosting public meetings in the lead-up to the federal Liberal convention this week in Winnipeg.

McKenna's town hall, set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Canad Inns Fort Garry on Pembina Highway, is part of a public consultation process for Canada's participation in the Paris Accord for Climate Change. Terry Duguid, Liberal MP for Winnipeg South, is expected to be part of McKenna's event.

Carr's town hall, also set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, will be held at the Asper Jewish Community Centre in the heart of his constituency. A spokeswoman said he expects to field questions on both his riding and his departmental responsibilities including the Fort McMurray fire and Canada's pipeline expansion.

McKenna's meeting is expected to attract a bus load of supporters who oppose the pipeline expansion.

"When we sat down to look at the questions the federal government is asking about climate solutions, we realized we have to be prepared. So we started a series of training (sessions) to help (supporters) become familiar with the consultation process and the specific format," the pipeline opponents, the Manitoba Energy Justice Coalition, said in a statement.

Coalition spokesman Alex Patterson said at least 40 people are booked to take a bus to the event, with more supporters coming on their own. They're prepared to argue against the expansion, using the Paris Accord to do it, Patterson said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally added Canada's signature to the accord in April but most environmental commentators have said fulfilling it will the be hard part. Canada's nowhere near meeting targets to cut Canada's greenhouse emissions by 30 per cent over the coming decades.

Canada's regulator on pipelines, The National Energy Board, approved one pipeline last week, but slapped on 145 draft conditions designed to protect the environment. The Kinder Morgan pipeline will add or reactivate 1,200 kilometres of pipelines to carry diluted bitumen from the Alberta oil sands across southern British Columbia to Burnaby for export.

The other major pipeline which is the focus of opposition in Quebec is Energy East. It's largely supported in western Canada except for environmental coalitions like the Manitoba Energy Justice Coalition.

TransCanada's Energy East is a 4,500 kilometre pipeline designed to carry oil from Alberta and Saskatchewan through to Quebec and New Brunswick for overseas shipping. It's still in the consultation phase.

The Liberal convention, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet, starts Thursday and lasts through the weekend in Winnipeg.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca