Hundreds rally in Drayton Valley to ‘Build Pipelines Now’

The event organized by Rally Canada also included a joint discussion between Brazeau County council and writer / researcher Vivian Krause, described as a strong proponent of Canada’s oil and gas industry.

Hinderks says the mood however at Tuesday’s rally was positive.

“Its people supporting the community,” he exclaims. “This isn’t about politics, this isn’t about stock analysis, this isn’t about oil price differential, this is about people in the community that are hurting and how we can support them and how we can get that message out. It’s about families, it’s about kids, it’s about our future, it’s about our home.”

Hinderks says everybody and their dog knows Canada needs pipelines in the ground and the crisis won’t be solved until that happens.

“All politicians need to know the time for action is now,” says Hinderks. “It’s becoming decimating, with the latest price differential in oil, projects are getting shut down. This morning I spoke to one of my hoteliers who had oil crews booked through to the 22nd of December and that project was just cancelled, so a direct impact on the hotel industry, restaurant industry, convenience store industry, right across the board.”

Hinderks describes this as a critical time, with many in the community hanging on for four years based on political promises of action which haven’t happened.

“We’re hitting a tipping point and it’s not just Drayton Valley,” he explains. “We might be the epicenter but there’s communities all across Alberta and all across Canada that are in the same boat because of inaction of political leadership. We need to keep the momentum up and we need other communities to do what we’re doing.”

Hinderks says it will take time but adds people need to get involved to get the message out that pipelines need to be built to get Canada’s oil to other markets outside the U.S.

“When you have people involved, it becomes real, not a statistic,” says Hinderks. “We’re not done, this is step one and you’re going to see more steps come out of Drayton Valley, hopefully to encourage all the other communities to do the same. We have two steps more down the road that are already in progress.”

In terms of the government’s plan to cut Alberta’s oil production by 8.7 per cent to help boost oil prices, Hinderks says it’s still not stopping layoffs.

“This is about people, not politics, not parties,” states Hinderks. “These people are getting hurt today, they’re getting their Christmas cut-off, they’ve got to go home and explain to their wife and kids that they don’t know what they’re doing next year and it’s time for that to stop. If people cannot understand how bad families are being hurt, you’ve got a little bit of a demonstration in Drayton Valley.”

Drayton Valley Mayor Michael Doerksen says their message to ‘Build Pipelines Now’ needs to get out to all Canadians, not just politicians.

“Just to put a face to the struggle that rural Alberta is facing,” explains Doerksen. “It’s more than just the environment. These are the faces of the people that are going to lose their jobs.”

However, when it comes to the environment, Doerksen says Canada does it better than anyone else in the world.

“We’re more environmentally conscious than any other country in the world,” states Doerksen. “So if we don’t produce our resources, another country will. So we’re not solving the problem, we’re adding to the problem.”

Doerksen hopes those who make decisions on pipelines see the impact of not having them is having on families.

“The provincial government put quotas on oil production and I understand why they did but that’s going to really hurt small communities like Drayton Valley,” he explains. “If oil companies can’t produce more oil, there’s not going to be a reason for them to drill and if they’re not drilling, the service industry is really going to be impacted and you’re going to see a lot of people start losing their jobs come Christmas time.”

Doerksen admits the crisis has his community in a depressed state right now.

“I have always said that Drayton Valley was one of the hardest hit communities after the price crash in 2014,” says Doerksen. “There were some signs of it kind of picking up until most recently with some of the events that have transpired and businesses are closing down, people are losing jobs and people are losing houses, it’s not a great site to see. We just need to make sure we get a face to that so people understand that this is real human beings that are impacted, its children that are going to go without a Christmas because their parents don’t have work, it’s very serious.”

Doug Galavan, small business owner of Flooring Canada in Drayton Valley and part of the Rally Canada movement, says Tuesday’s rally was their way of respectfully sounding the alarm to all levels of government that pipelines need to get built right now.

“We wrote a letter to the Prime Minister inviting him to come, we haven’t had any response back,” admits Galavan. “I don’t know how else we can get our message out. The economy is going off a cliff here, we’ve got layoffs happening steadily, the work is being pulled back at an alarming rate in the oil patch and of course that trickles through the entire economy.”

Galavan says the current situation in the oil and gas industry is going to have ‘massive’ consequences once it starts to take-off.

“It’s going to influence a great deal more of the economy than I think is being alluded to,” adds Galavan. “How far does it have to fall before they pick up that torch? I’m not that optimistic at this point, so we’re going to have to continue our push. We’ve got a ‘letter to the legislature’ campaign, so we’re going to execute that we’re hoping Monday.”

Galavan says it’s critical to hold government’s feet to the fire in hopes of any action on their part.

“This is not a contained fire,” states Galavan. “The oilfield is not buying the valves that are being manufactured in Quebec and Ontario. This problem is going to get much worse across the country and so it’s not just our families and businesses and investors, it’s going to be much more wide-spread than I believe people realize.”

by Sheldon Spackman

Hundreds rally in Drayton Valley to ‘Build Pipelines Now’

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