Federal MP Dominic LeBlanc (L) listening to Peter Higham in the lobby of Convocation Hall

Groups opposed to the proposed 500 MW gas/diesel plant near Centre Village presented information to Beauséjour MP Dominic LeBlanc today explaining why they’re so strongly opposed to the project.

During a brief exchange on the Mount Allison University campus, Peter Higham of Seniors for Climate — Tantramar suggested that as minister of international trade, LeBlanc should be concerned that NB Power has awarded the gas plant contract to an American company at a time when the U.S. is threatening Canada economically.

Higham also seemed to question why LeBlanc hasn’t said anything so far about a project that was announced more than eight months ago.

“I’m not ducking the thing,” LeBlanc said as he suggested that the federal government is not about to tell NB Power what it can and cannot do.

Penny Mott, also of Seniors for Climate, presented LeBlanc with a letter outlining a number of reasons why she believes the project should be of concern to a federal minister including international recognition that the fragile ecosystem on the Chignecto Isthmus needs protection; that burning fossil fuels in a gas/diesel plant hastens catastrophic climate change and that in the spirit of truth and reconciliation, Indigenous people should have been asked first for their consent.

Mt. A. Religious Studies Professor Barb Clayton from the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition presented LeBlanc with a petition signed by 130 scientists and academics opposing the gas plant and suggesting alternatives such as renewable energy sources combined with battery energy storage.

In each case, LeBlanc promised to read the materials, but declined to answer questions from Warktimes.

Anti-gas plant demonstrators

Demonstrators at Mt. A. Photo: Juliette Bulmer

Earlier, demonstrators gathered at various locations on York Street where they knew LeBlanc would see them on his way into Convocation Hall.

The federal minister was guest speaker at the installation ceremony for Moncton lawyer George Cooper who is the university’s new chancellor.

One of the demonstrators, Logan Atkinson, said in spite of repeated attempts, groups against the proposed plant have not been able to talk directly with LeBlanc.

“He hasn’t talked with us since the beginning of our protest. We haven’t heard a word from his office in months,” he said.

“We’ve tried several times by e-mail, by phone calls, his office has either not responded or responded weakly or put us off, so it’s not good enough. We did have a meeting in Shediac  with his assistant early on in the fall, that’s it, nothing since.

“So, it’s not good enough for our MP to be ignoring us like this. We need his help. We need the help of every politician we can get and it’s just not coming from him.”