Green candidate in court

Photo: Connie Sahlmark

Penticton Green Party candidate Connie Sahlmark was arrested while protesting the Trans Mountain Pipeline in Burnaby on March 24 and charged with civil disobedience.

Penticton's Green Party candidate in last year's provincial election was in Vancouver Supreme Court on Wednesday, after being apprehended for protesting the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

Connie Sahlmark was arrested near Kinder Morgan's pipeline terminal in Burnaby on March 24 and charged with civil disobedience. She was one of more than 100 protesters arrested in late March, including federal Green leader Elizabeth May.

The pipeline expansion would triple the amount of diluted bitumen shipped to B.C.'s coast, which will be exported overseas.

Sahlmark said there isn't a good environmental or economic case for the project.

"They're touting this as an economic thing about jobs and resources, but the fact is it's not. It's being exported to a foreign country to be processed. So someone else is making the money," she said.

"There's no rush to push this through, there's not a shortage of gas and oil... It's endangering our country and our world to let this stuff happen, you have to say something."

The B.C. Prosecution Service announced earlier this week it is considering criminal charges for pipeline protesters who were arrested. 

Two special prosecutors will be doing independent reviews to determine if there's enough evidence to lay criminal contempt of court charges.

The province's prosecution service said in a statement the independent prosecutors are needed to avoid the perception of "improper influence" in the criminal justice system.

Sahlmark finished third in the Penticton riding during the 2017 provincial election with 18 per cent of the popular vote — behind Liberal candidate Dan Ashton, who was elected for a second term, and NDP candidate Tarik Sayeed.