Montreal mayor walks out of Energy East hearings after disruption by protesters

The announcement comes just days before the National Energy Board holds hearings about the pipeline on Monday in Montreal.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre was the first scheduled speaker this morning but instead walked out a few minutes after a man ran screaming towards the commissioners.

It has become controversial in Quebec with many politicians and activists coming out against the project due to environmental concerns.

“There are too many problems we are witnessing to accept the project”, Coderre told reporters after he chose to leave the hearings. “We’re saying the project, as presented, is wrong, it’s bad and we don’t have the answers. And frankly one of the main issues is contingency plans, everything regarding safety”. Coderre said he will consider whether to return Tuesday.

“The whole operation is created to hear from Canadians, whatever their point of view might be”, said Jim Carr, who was in Edmonton speaking to a business group.

“Whatever their point of view might be, we think they should all have a right to say it”, Carr said in Edmonton.

The ruckus began Monday morning when one protester ran to the table where the National Energy Board commissioners were seated and nearly knocked it over. In March, protesters began chanting as soon as Louis Bergeron, Energy East’s vice-president for New Brunswick and Quebec, began speaking.

Unionized workers hoping to benefit from the construction work estimate the pipeline would create 2,000 jobs over three years in Quebec, a province where private investment in large projects has been hit by weak commodity prices.

One protester managed to evade security and approach a table where commissioners for the National Energy Board were sitting, chanting “Transcanada, on n’en veut pas”, and seized a briefcase before being removed.

“There is a perception of bias”, said Gareau, 36. So a judge can not go and meet with people in a back room.

While representatives of the Montreal Metropolitan Community, the Union of Quebec Municipalities and the cities of Laval and Montreal had been scheduled to speak, all had pulled out amid the protests.