OTTAWA - The NDP and the Liberals, backed by the Green Party, the Bloc Quebecois and green groups, will be taking down their websites on Monday to protest environmental provisions in the omnibus budget bill.

They charge changes to the environmental review process muzzle the rights of Canadians to raise concerns about resource development projects.

The proposed legislation streamlines the process by setting time limits and creating a single review at either the federal or provincial level.

In a national counter-offensive, 10 Tory ministers have fanned out from coast to coast to hammer home their message that resource development is key to Canada's long-term prosperity

In Gatineau, Que., Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said the sector benefited Canadians nationwide and attracted global investment.

He denied the Conservatives were put on the defensive by the blackout campaign.

"We want to present the facts to Canadians," he said, calling the muzzling charge "over-the-top rhetoric."

Oliver added a jab at NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair's Dutch disease theory that the Western resource boom causeed Canada's manufacturing sector woes, calling the position, which has been dismissed by many economists, "unfortunate."