Vancouver, June 17 2014 – British Columbia’s largest nonpartisan democracy group today called on Premier Christy Clark to hold fast to her election promise and stand up for British Columbia against Enbridge’s pipeline and oil tanker proposal.

“Premier Clark said it best. Nobody can force this pipeline through our province if the people here don’t want it,” said Dogwood Initiative’s Energy & Democracy Director Kai Nagata. “The B.C. government is about to come under enormous pressure to approve Northern Gateway. Premier Clark needs to reject the proposal once and for all and deny the provincial permits necessary for construction.”

“First Nations and the democratic majority of B.C. voters oppose Northern Gateway. Despite that, Ottawa still intends to ram it down our throat. Premier Clark’s only politically viable option is to join us in standing up for British Columbia,” Nagata said.

After years of heated debate over Northern Gateway, a turning point was reached in April with a symbolic plebiscite in the coastal town of Kitimat. Despite the promise of jobs at the Northern Gateway tanker terminal, local voters soundly rejected the project.

Following the Kitimat plebiscite, Dogwood launched LetBCvote.ca, a website where British Columbians can sign up to help run a citizens’ initiative in the event the provincial government reverses its position and supports Enbridge’s proposal.

“So far we’ve had 6,000 volunteers sign up to say they’ll canvass in their home ridings. Dogwood alone has the support of 156,000 British Columbia voters, not counting the networks of our partners and allies across the province,” said Dogwood’s Director of Organizing Celine Trojand. “One way or another, we will defeat this project democratically.”

As Premier Clark considers her next move, 75 Dogwood teams are already gathering pledge signatures in communities across the province. “It just shows how hard British Columbians are willing to work when it comes to standing up for our home,” Trojand said.

“We’re asking our politicians to carry out the will of the majority, but we’re ready if they let us down,” Nagata said. “Unlike voters in any other province, British Columbians have the power to write our own laws. It’s how we got rid of the HST. If Premier Clark flip-flops and starts issuing pipeline permits, the people of B.C. will be forced to cancel them.”

For more information contact Lyndsey Easton: 250-370-9930 x. 29

lyndsey@dogwoodbc.ca