About 40 people, many of them local residents, shared their ideas Wednesday evening for stopping NB Power’s planned 500 MW Chignecto Isthmus gas/diesel plant during a two-hour meeting at the Baptist Church in Midgic.

“We need to fight,” said Andy Mills, who moved from the Windsor, Ontario area in 2021 to build his $400,000 retirement home on property he bought in Midgic about five miles from the proposed gas plant.

“These people who are dictating to us live in Missouri,” he said referring to executives from the big U.S. company PROENERGY that would build and operate the gas plant.

Midgic resident Andy Mills says it’s time to confront the politicians & executives backing the gas plant

“They live in Fredericton, they live in other places, but we live here. We need to fight and we need to fight hard and stop with the political correctness words because they don’t work,” he added, as he argued that it’s time to confront the politicians and executives backing the gas plant even if it means swearing at them sometimes.

“They’re laughing at us,” he said. “They don’t care about us.”

Mills who worked as a mechanical engineer for most of his career before going into human resources said later that he moved to Canada from England in 1979 and wasn’t that interested in politics until in the last 10 to 15 years he’s seen how politicians are walking all over the people who actually pay their salaries.

He says that Premier Holt has not responded to the politely worded e-mails he’s sent.

“So, I think we need to be more forceful in the words we choose,” he said.

Challenges to gas plant

Meeting organizers Juliette Bulmer (L) & Terry Jones

Meeting organizer Juliette Bulmur mentioned that Barry Rothfuss, executive director of the Atlantic Wildlife Institute and five other opponents of the gas plant have registered a formal complaint with the federal Competition Bureau.

Among other things, it accuses NB Power and PROENERGY of  falsely claiming that Indigenous investors would be partners in the project, an example, their complaint says, of a “false narrative” about Indigenous reconciliation that is “direct evidence of corporate deception and federal greenwashing.”

Bulmer also mentioned that on November 17th, the New Brunswick Court of Appeal is scheduled to hear a case launched by the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition challenging the fairness of the Energy & Utility Board hearings on the gas plant before the EUB approved the project in May.

Meeting organizer Terry Jones said she would be preparing cards for people to keep in  their wallets based on a booklet from the Canadian Constitution Foundation called Know Your Rights: A Guide to Protest in Canada.

She suggested it could be useful during peaceful protests against the gas plant.

“The document shows you what to do if you’re protesting, what to do if you’re arrested or threatened with arrest, where you’re allowed to protest. It’s broken down quite concisely,” she said, adding that the document can also be found online.

Celebrity & social license

“This is the single most important issue to me in my life right now,” said Shelley Chase, artistic director of Sackville’s annual music festival Levee on the Lake who added that she had a few ideas to contribute.

“Celebrity,” she said. “Celebrity always helps. The social license and the court of public opinion matter. Shame matters,” Chase said.

Shelley Chase, artistic director at Levee on the Lake

“So, when I leave here, I’ve worked in the music industry for 30 years, I’m going to call some celebrities,” she added, promising to ask if they would take a public stand against the gas plant.

“I will try to get hold of Jim Cuddy and Matt Andersen and a few other folks that I’ve met,” she said even though they may or may not agree to get involved.

“Usually folk musicians are fairly politically active against things that will harm the environment.”

Chase also suggested making a bigger effort to enlist students who are members of environmental groups  at Mt. A. and said opponents should think about arranging for a huge, digital sign in an area with high traffic in Moncton.

Later someone suggested asking for support from the Indigenous rapper Wolf Castle and Meredith Fisher of Seniors from Climate Tantramar mentioned Jeremy Dutcher, the classically trained tenor and composer who is a member of Tobique First Nation.

Juliette Bulmer also reminded the meeting that Seniors for Climate Tantramar will be running an information booth on the gas plant at this year’s Fall Fair, gathering at 1 o’clock at the Drew Nursing Home to participate in the Fall Fair Parade and at 3 p.m., staging a crosswalk demonstration at the Bridge and Main traffic lights.

“Everybody is invited,” she said.