PULSE CHECKWith the federal government’s recent approval of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP), there continues to be substantial public attention. We’re cutting through the rhetoric to extract everything you need to know about the supporters and critics shaping the conversation about the Project. Much of this conversation is through social media and events not covered by traditional news sources. Pulse Check reflects what we’ve heard and seen between April 14 - 30, 2017 with direct news and information to keep you informed.

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Online activity presented below reflects the vocal contributions of the local communities, ENGOs, elected municipal and regional government representatives, and First Nations engaged in a discourse on the TMEP. Previously, this online activity was associating the TMEP with opposition to the Keystone and Dakota Access Pipelines, but with the upcoming BC provincial election, social media is being used to raise TMEP as a significant election issue and influence voters.

Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan was interviewed by the Island Residents Against Tanker Expansion (IRATE) for a video in which he expresses his opposition to the TMEP.

Safety Before Profits is a campaign by Local 793 of the International Union of Operating Engineers. Standing out amongst the opposition, they are supportive of the TMEP and are campaigning for the use of skilled union workers rather than untrained or foreign workers.

Pull Together has raised over $240,000 for the First Nations legal opposition to the TMEP. They support collaboration between different opposition groups and recently released a video where First Nations ex-pressed their concerns over the project.

Green Party staff member, Elysia Glover had the highest retweet reach, with a tweet quoting Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May being retweeted 12 times, including by Elizabeth May herself. It reached 301,854 people.

Of everyone who tweeted about #kindermorgan, Elizabeth May had the highest number of followers at 293,704. She is vocal in her opposition of the expansion and has been actively supporting BC Green Party leader Andrew Weaver during the BC election campaign.

56 ONLINE

ARTICLES

12 BLOG

POSTS

1138 TWEETS

T H E N O I S E

TRENDING HASHTAGS

W H O ’ S TA L K I N G

#BCPoli

#earthday

#SiteC

#stopkm#BCelxn17

The data and trending hashtags presented in this document are based on the tags most frequently used in conjunction with

#kindermorgan. Hashtags are used to link content on social media and those trending represent the highest volume of use.

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PULSE CHECK

A campaign called #ImAnother has been launched by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s (TWN) Sacred Trust Initiative. The website allows users to insert a photo and brief descriptor of themselves into a template expressing their opposition to the TMEP. Similar signs can be found around Vancouver for people to take selfies with. The campaign encourages participants to share these photos with their social media networks.

TWN is hiring people around BC to disseminate posters opposing TMEP in various locations in the lower mainland and along the west coast. The job pays $12 per hour.

Opposition groups are encouraging everyone to vote in the BC provincial election on May 9, and to take an active role in informing politicians about their views on the pipeline expansion. One of the top five hashtags associated with #kindermorgan was #BCelxn17 and the number of #kindermorgan tweets increased dramatically on April 20, 2017, the day of the first BC leaders’ candidates’ debate. The Dogwood Initiative has gone as far as to buy the domain name www.VoteBC.ca and had an official voting booth on display at Earth Day activities in Vancouver.

The Georgia Strait Alliance released a video that had 4800 views in the first day after it was posted. It claims to show the potential extent that oil could spread if there were an oil spill along the southern BC coast and encouraged viewers to make the TMEP an election issue. It was shared extensively on Twitter, often with the hashtags #VoteForTheCoast and #BCelxn17.

The top handle was @jjhorgan, leader of the BC NDP. Two tweets were widely shared, both of which demonstrate his opposition to the TMEP.

The Victoria-based newspaper Times Colonist published a commentary outlining “5 myths about the Trans Mountain pipeline”. In response to the commentary, Scott Stoness, Vice President, Regulatory and Finance of Kinder Morgan wrote “5 truths about the Trans Mountain expansion” outlining the long-term commitments of shippers, the NEB’s assessment that there is a low probability of a spill, the number of jobs that will be created, that greenhouse gas emissions will be offset, and that the project underwent the most comprehensive and rigorous regulatory review by the NEB to date.

A Tactical Skills for Activists training session on May 13 and 14 is being is being advertised through Facebook. While the workshop itself does not specifically mention the TMEP, the event was shared on ENGO and Kinder Morgan opposition Facebook pages. The course is “training that is based on…. military skills but modified for activism” to “counter the government’s and industry’s injustices.” The course will teach “skill sets that allow activists to move confidently through dense woods, slip into resource extraction sites undetected, conduct an activist’s action and then slip away without being compromised… to conduct covert surveillance on the opposition, set up covert filming sites, establish covert observation and listening posts, and move into a contested area undetected.” There are currently 15 people attending and someone is looking into funding for participants from Sto:lo bands to cover the $200 registration fee.

W H AT ’ S T R E N D I N GMyths and Truths about TMEP

Militarizing Activism

New Selfie Campaign

TMEP in the BC Election

pulse@communica.ca | 604.801.6830

PULSE CHECK

Kinder Morgan Opposition at Earth Day 2017

Kinder Morgan opposition groups are taking advantage of related events to raise awareness of their message. The 7th Annual Earth Day Parade and Festival was held in Vancouver on April 22, 2017 organized by the Hazelmere Youth for Climate Justice Leadership Group. Despite the weather, parade participants marched 11 blocks, ending at a park where there was a stage and a number of booths set up.

Although this is advertised as an Earth Day event, centralized behind the microphone was a large banner saying “Resist the Kinder Morgan Pipeline” with a much smaller “Celebrate Earth Day” sign off to the side. Of the 19 tents at the event, two were opposing the Site C dam, one was opposing Woodfibre LNG and six were opposing the TMEP. All the speakers spoke strongly in opposition of the pipeline expansion and used

the cancellation of the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal to motivate listeners to remain strong in their opposition. They also encouraged the audience to vote in the upcoming election, and both the BC NDP and the BC Green Party had a very strong presence at the event.

W H AT W E ’ V E S E E NW H AT W E ’ V E S E E N

Earth Day events in Vancouver on April 22, 2017 attracted a crowd of about 100 people and featured a parade, band and speakers.

Melanie Mark, MLA for Vancouver - Mount Pleasent, speaking at the Earth Day event in Vancouver on April 22, 2017 to a crowd of 100 people.

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PULSE CHECK

May 2: The Kinder Morgan Pipeline Debate – Economic Boon or $7.4B Boondoggle? Debate featuring Markham Hislop, from North American Energy News and Gordon Cornwall, former President of Industrial Metrics Inc. who was arrested in 2014 for protesting the pipeline.

May 3 – 7: Boogie on the Beach – Free concerts, hosted by the Georgia Strait Alliance and the Wilderness Committee, held nightly at various beaches in southwestern BC to show opposition to the increase in oil tanker traffic associated with the TMEP.

May 7 – 8: The Caretakers – Screening as part of a documentary film festival in Vancouver, ‘The Caretekers’ documents activists who set up a camp on Burnaby Mountain in 2014 to oppose the TME Project. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker.

May 16: Raise a Paddle – An event featuring First Nations speakers and climate activists to raise funds for the First Nation legal challenge against Kinder Morgan, hosted by 350.org and Pull Together.

May 25 – 28: Walk 4 the Salish Sea – The 81 km walk will commence in Saanichton, on Vancouver Island, and end at the Kinder Morgan Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby. There will be musical performances, cultural demonstrations and speaking presentations along the way.

Communica is Western Canada’s largest stakeholder and Aboriginal engagement specialist firm. We have the knowledge, capacity and experience to handle the toughest engagement challenges and most rigorous regulatory practices. Our work is guided by our belief that authentic, open and transparent engagement leads to better decision-making and builds mutual respect and trust with stakeholders.

Pulse Check is prepared twice a month and is intended to share information on TMEP in order to support decisions on stakeholder engagement for future projects. To subscribe, please contact pulse@communica.ca.

W H AT ’ S N E X T

A B O U T C O M M U N I C A

A local chapter of Youth for Climate Justice Now has organized the annual Earth Day Parade and Festival in Vancouver since 2010.

WHO TO WATCHLuke Wallace is a young musician from the west coast of BC who has been very active at a number of rallies and events. The opening page of his website plays the music video for his song “Fight for Tomorrow” featuring scenes from communities on BC’s west coast. Most recently, he performed at an event organized by the IRATE, which featured Elizabeth May.

Source: Facebook