Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's town hall meeting in Nanaimo today generated plenty of fireworks.

It was mainly because of his government's support for Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion project, which is despised by many living on Canada's West Coast.

If it's completed, it will result in a nearly seven-fold increase in oil tanker traffic in Burrard Inlet.

But when hecklers raised the pipeline issue, Trudeau called on the police to remove them from the room at Vancouver Island University.

Before doing this, the prime minister first demanded on three occasions that they "please respect the people in this room".

"If you're not going to respect the people in this room, you're going to have to leave," Trudeau declared.

He pointed out that he had been hosting the meeting for 25 minutes, and by that time had only addressed three questions.

"I'm working my way around the room," he said. "If you guys sit down and behave, until I get to you, I will give you the mike. How's that?"

But when the two women wouldn't sit down, Trudeau then asked the audience: "Who thinks it's time for these people to leave?"

When quite a few hands went up, Trudeau thanked the crowd.

Then he turned to the hecklers, saying: Please go. Yes we're going to ask the police to remove you. Yes, we're asking the police to remove you both."

At that point, the cops surrounded the women and hauled them away.

Then Trudeau muttered "I'm sorry" a couple of times before citing former British prime minister Winston Churchill to justify his actions.

"Winston Churchill pointed out that democracy is messy," the prime minister said. "And it is messy, but it is the best possible form of engagement because we do get to hear from everyone in this."

After the women were out of the room, Trudeau decided to "apologize for the behavour of our fellow citizens".