National Energy Board cancels first day of Energy East hearings after protests

“This decision was taken in light of disturbances at this morning’s hearings, in which violence threatened the safety of everyone present at the meeting”, the board said in a statement.

The NEB cancelled a planned hearing in Montreal on Monday after protesters stormed the hearing room and one burly man charged the table where panel members were seated, before he was restrained by security guards.

Coderre was the first person scheduled to give testimony Monday but chose instead to leave, calling the protests a “masquerade”.

There is no word yet on a new date for the hearing, said NEB spokeswoman Sarah Kiley.

Opponents want two of the three panel members to step down after it emerged they had privately discussed the pipeline a year ago with former Quebec Premier Jean Charest, who at the time was working for TransCanada as a consultant.

Environmental groups against oil sands development fiercely oppose the 1.1-million-barrel-per-day Energy East pipeline, which would carry crude oil from Alberta to Canada’s Atlantic coast.

“We want all the plans be developed in 2018, which is still two years before the commissioning, says Bergeron”.

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

“We want all Canadians who have an opinion to have a chance to express it, that’s a very important Canadian value, so I’m hopeful that that will happen and the sooner it happens the better”, he said.

NEB suspends Montreal hearings, will announce plan tomorrow to hear from Montreal intervenors.

Alberta says a pipeline to get oil to overseas markets will mean a higher price for the product, but protesters worry about the environmental damage the pipeline could do. The first half is reserved for questions, with the last 10 minutes given to TransCanada to answer them. Members of a large construction union holding signs in support of Energy East outnumbered anti-oil activists outside the conference centre.

“I thought the kind of decision-making involved was done with such a bias and lack of objectivity”, he said in an interview from Whistler, B.C. “It just shows this smug elite privilege which is completely unacceptable”.

The hearings, which began in New Brunswick earlier this month, are also scheduled for several other cities, including Quebec City, before concluding in Kingston, Ont., in December.