Global Petroleum Show opens with “largest oil and gas rally” ever in Canada

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – A pro-pipeline rally planned for Stampede Park on Tuesday is being billed as the “largest oil and gas rally in Canadian history.”

Organizers anticipate more than 5,000 people could show up.

Cody Battershill with Canada Action said they hope to send a message to Ottawa ahead of a decision on the expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline (TMX).

The Trudeau government is expected to make a decision on whether or not to approve TMX by June 18.

READ MORE: Federal government extends deadline on Trans Mountain expansion to June 18

“A majority of Canadians believe we have a pipeline crisis,” Battershill said. “We lost $40,000 a minute in 2018 as a country because of insufficient pipeline capacity.”

Battershill said the rally will also take aim against two pieces of federal legislation, Bill C-69 and Bill C-48.

Why would we make it harder to build pipelines? Our families are already losing out, big time. #StopBillC69 pic.twitter.com/q1eqJhWxbb

— Canada Action (@CanadaAction) June 11, 2019

The former would place unreasonable restrictions on natural resource projects, according to its critics.

And the latter would ban oil tankers off the northern coast of British Columbia.

“When you pit one region of the country against another, that is not in the national interest,” Battershill said. “And when you ignore all the other tankers coming into North America from countries that don’t have our environmental standards but single out Canadian oil exports, that is not good for the global environment (and) that is not good for Canadian families.”

The rally coincides with the start of the Global Petroleum Show, which runs through Thursday at Stampede Park in Calgary.