Conservative Sun TV broadcaster Ezra Levant showed up at an anti-pipeline rally in Vancouver over the weekend, and predictably stirred things up with protesters.
The "No Enbridge" rally attracted more than 1,000 people to Vancouver's Sunset Beach on Saturday afternoon. Most of the crowd voiced opposition to the Northern Gateway pipeline, which would carry crude oil from the Alberta oilsands to a port in Kitimat, B.C. so it can be shipped overseas.
Outspoken Levant waded into the crowd with his microphone and cameraman to ask questions, but that quickly turned into heated debate, according to the Vancouver Observer.
In an exchange posted on YouTube, the Sun News Network host calls some rally attendees "hypocrites" because they "don't care" about China as the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world.
One man answers back to Levant: "If you’re pro-mining, you’re pro carbon, you're pro-all this, and you think that’s better than having a clean environment, that everybody who doesn’t think a clean environment isn’t important should stop breathing air."
“I just think you’re a bunch of morally preening, self-righteous, luxurious, rich white kids,” replies Levant.
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'No Enbridge' Rally, May 2014
The federal government is expected to announce a final decision on the $6.5-billion project by Enbridge next month.
Rally organizer ForestEthics Advocacy, said the event was meant to "send one last loud message to Prime Minister Stephen Harper against this misguided project."
“First Nations stand strong against Enbridge, the B.C. government has formally opposed their Northern Gateway pipeline proposal — and the people of BC are not going to let this monstrosity ever be built," said campaign director Ben West.
The Vancouver Sun reported that some protesters are willing to go to extreme measures including chaining themselves to trees and machinery to block the project if it's approved.
Half a dozen demonstrators who support the oil sands set up some signs at the back of the rally.
“I do believe the oil sands are a major part of that resource sector, and it’s a great opportunity for young people in Western Canada to go make an incredible living at this point, as well as an opportunity for those in the future too,” Christopher Wilson told the Observer.
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