PHOTOS: Vancouver's Kinder Morgan expansion protest

Roughly 300 people took part in a mass protest on streets of Vancouver on Wednesday to voice their opposition to the proposed Kinder Morgan expansion project.

Municipal surveys have shown that roughly 80 per cent of residents oppose the Trans Mountain expansion, which if approved, would add 980 kilometres of brand new pipeline to triple the capacity of a system that already transports 300,000 barrels of oil per day from the tar sands to refineries and terminals in Vancouver and Washington.

In total, more than 20 municipalities and 17 First Nations have rejected it, despite Kinder Morgan's claims that it will contribute $46.7 billion in taxes and royalties to government coffers over 20 years, as well as creating 15,000 construction jobs per year during peak construction, and 37,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs per year of operation.

The protesters carried more than 140,000 petition signatures against the pipeline from across the country into a federal government panel meeting designed to collect public feedback. 

Here is the incredible movement in photos by National Observer reporter Elizabeth McSheffrey. 

Who will speak for us?

The National Energy Board is a "paper tiger"

A visit from "Bitu-Man"

Keep it in the ground

Stop. Big. Oil.