Kitimat residents to vote in April plebiscite on Northern Gateway project

KITIMAT, B.C. – The District of Kitimat will hold a plebiscite on the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline in April to gauge support for the controversial project.

Chief administrative officer Ron Poole says residents will vote on April 12, with advanced polls on April 2 and April 9.

The dates were set this week when councillors approved the question, asking residents if they support the final recommendations of the Joint Review Panel, which issued a report in December saying the pipeline should be approved subject to 209 conditions.

Poole says councillors will be considering additional questions such as those concerns refining oil.

The plebiscite fulfils council’s resolution in January 2012 to survey residents in the northwestern B.C. community about their opinion on the Northern Gateway project after the review panel completed its report.

Kitimat would be the end of the line for the bitumen pipeline and the port where hundreds of tankers loaded with oil from Alberta would leave for Asia.