VANCOUVER - The mayor of British Columbia's most populous city is making his fight against Kinder Morgan's oil pipeline expansion a key plank of his re-election campaign.
British Columbia municipalities go to the polls on Nov. 15 and Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and his Vision Vancouver party have released an environmental platform that makes Trans Mountain's expansion proposal its top priority.
Robertson says opposing the pipeline will be one of the choices voters can make on election day.
Under Robertson's leadership, the city has asked the Federal Court of Appeal for a judicial review of the federal energy regulator's process, saying the National Energy Board is refusing to consider Trans Mountain's impact on global climate change.
The $5.4-billion project would almost triple the capacity of the current pipeline linking the Alberta oilsands to Port Metro Vancouver, increasing flow from 300,000 barrels of oil a day to almost 900,000.
Robertson's main rival for the city's top job — former journalist Kirk LaPointe — has not taken a position on the Kinder Morgan project, and criticized Robertson for declaring his opposition before a National Energy Board review is complete.
