As the waiting game continues for the TransMountain Pipeline project, Airdrie’s MLA is hoping that something can be done soon.

MLA Angela Pitt says she is very frustrated and hurt with the current pipeline dispute saying the project needs to be built and is angry that it’s not.

(Photo Courtesy: Government of Alberta)

Pitt says she has heard from others in the community who share similar frustrations.

“The people in this province have been going through a pretty significant recession and there’s a lot of people that aren’t working right now and if they’re not in the jobs that they used to have. These are fairly good mortgage paying jobs to significantly less than that.”

Pitt says that the community in Airdrie is affected by the pipeline dispute because of the relationship it has with oil and gas communities.

“Airdrie has that bond directly most certainly but indirectly we have it too, there’s a ton of indirect jobs in this city and in this province that are affected by this. You might not think that an employee working at McDonald’s is going to be impacted by this but at the end of the day those jobs that took those families out to eat at restaurants are doing a whole lot less than that.”

The Federal Government has until February of 2019 to properly review the pipeline project after it was rejected by the Court of Appeals for failing to properly consult with Indigenous communities.

For Pitt, she hopes that residents won’t stop fighting for the pipeline’s approval.

“Let your frustrations be known. It’s not ok to handcuff our country like this. We have a ton of natural resources and we should be prosperous, we should have so much and even more that we can share with those that don’t have that much. It’s just important to keep that conversation alive as well.”

Pitt made the comments after Premier Rachel Notley spoke at a recent Pipeline Conference saying her government will continue to fight for TransMountain as well as oppose Bill C-69.

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