Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton at the mic with march organizers Juliette Bulmer (L) and Terry Jones

About 130 people attended a rally and march in Sackville Saturday to protest against NB Power’s plans for a 500 MW gas/diesel generating plant on the environmentally sensitive Chignecto Isthmus.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of how our community has responded to this terrible threat to the Chignecto Isthmus and to our community,” Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton told the protesters gathered in Bill Johnstone Park.

“I’m also hopeful,” she added. “I really think we can win this.”

The Hamilton sisters, Gabby and Alex. Photo: Facebook

March organizer Terry Jones said the NB Power project is very personal for her because her property is right beside the 50 acres of wilderness where the gas plant would be built.

“The plant is literally in my backyard,” she told the crowd. “It is also very distressing that we’re going to destroy a pristine area where there’s all kinds of wildlife and flora and fauna.”

Jones noted that if the project goes ahead, the 10 jet-engine generators at the plant would be built by the American company PROENERGY which would funnel money out of the country when it should be staying in New Brunswick.

“It should be used for green energy and not for continuing to burn fossil fuels and the greenhouse gases that are destroying the ocean,” she said, adding that operating the plant for at least 25 years would deplete and pollute the local water supply in the Centre Village-Midgic area.

Jones appealed to the crowd to gather support from friends and neighbours across Canada.

“The more support we get, the louder we are, maybe we can send this plant out of our woods.”

One group of marchers went to town hall and are seen here returning to join the other group which marched along Main and then down Bridge St

As the march began, one group set off along Main Street and then down Bridge, while another marched to town hall, then returned to join the first group before marching on to Landsdowne where the Mt. A. Mounties were playing against the Acadia Axemen. (The Axemen ended up defeating the Mounties 20-11.)

Some of the marchers then returned to Bill Johnstone Park where Kyle Sauvé and his partner Leanne Robertson, who had travelled from Memramcook with their four-year-old daughter, told Warktimes why they are strongly opposed to the proposed power plant.

Leanne Robertson & Kyle Sauvé

“This affects all of us, right?” said Leanne Robertson.

“We might be separated by 20-30-40 kilometres, but this is still my backyard,” she added.

“Everybody in New Brunswick should be concerned about this,” she said.

“We come together in solidarity to speak the truth about the climate’s warming. Things are getting worse and we need to come up with better strategies than a new, slightly greenwashed fossil fuel plant,” Robertson added, referring to NB Power’s contention that the new plant would stabilize the grid allowing the utility to add more renewables such as solar and wind.

E-mail to deputy mayor

Kyle Sauvé said he sent a strongly worded e-mail to Tantramar Deputy Mayor Matt Estabrooks who represents Ward 4 where the gas plant would be built.

He said he lambasted Estabrooks for refusing to speak when residents made a presentation to town council calling for council support in opposing the project.

“People there showed up, they cared,” Sauvé said, adding that other councillors expressed their opposition to the proposed plant.

“And so they called upon him to speak and he clearly chose not to,” he said.

He added that he would have been satisfied if Estabrooks had said he was still weighing the pros and cons and had not decided yet, but he said a member of council is obligated to tell the people he represents where he stands.

Estabrooks’s response

In his e-mail response, obtained by Warktimes, the deputy mayor defended his decision not to speak.

“Remaining impartial and not responding to the presentation with remarks or questions was a conscious decision on my part, and not one that indicates I am either in favour of or opposed to this proposed project,” Estabrooks wrote.

“I have stated many times that the environmental concerns must be properly addressed by the governing Federal and Provincial bodies before this project is allowed to proceed,” he added.

Councillors Michael Tower, Bruce Phinney, Josh Goguen and Debbie Wiggins-Colwell did voice their opinions, but in his e-mail response, Estabrooks said they were not following “proper procedure.”

“If a Councillor has questions for clarification about what was presented, then that would be considered proper exchange,” Estabrooks wrote.

“Given that some Councillors made the decision to comment on their personal opinions regarding this project demonstrated publicly that they have turned their backs on a portion of their constituents who wish for this project to happen,” he added.

To read the deputy mayor’s full e-mail response, click here.

Kamaya Lindquist carried this sign during Saturday’s rally & march. Photo: Facebook