Canadian coronavirus restrictions limiting protesters makes it a ‘great time’ to build oil pipeline, minister says

close

Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for May 26

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.

Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here. 

A Canadian politician says now is a “great time” to push forward on building a controversial oil pipeline because coronavirus prevention measures are limiting the size of protests.

Sonya Savage, who is Alberta’s energy minister, made the remark about the Trans Mountain Expansion project Friday during an appearance on the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors podcast.

“Now is a great time to be building a pipeline because you can’t have protests of more than 15 people,” she said. “Let’s get it built.”

A pipeline sign is pictured as indigenous leaders, Coast Salish Water Protectors and others demonstrate against the expansion of Texas-based Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline project in Burnaby, British Columbia, in March 2018. (JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE FOR FULL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

Savage then said “people are not going to have tolerance and patience for protests that get in the way of people working," as unemployment levels could soar to more than 20 percent when Canada re-emerges from the coronavirus outbreak.

“People need jobs, people need economic activity and these types of ideological protests that get in the way are just not going to be tolerated by ordinary Canadians,” she added. “Ordinary Canadians who are just trying to get by.”

Opponents of the pipeline project argue that it presents a risk to the environment. (JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

The Trans Mountain Expansion project aims to update an already-existing pipeline to create a system that flows between Edmonton to the Vancouver area. It’s slated to be completed by December 2022 – and once finished, will increase capacity from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels per day.

The project’s supporters see it as a boost for Canada’s energy sector, while protesters – which include British Columbia government officials, environmental advocates, and First Nations indigenous peoples – argue that it could bring spills and threaten whales off Vancouver’s coast, the BBC reports.