Downtown Tims protest attracts small crowd
Demonstrators urge boycott after Enbridge ads pulled from store TVs
Trouble was brewing outside a downtown Calgary Tim Hortons Friday at noon.
A group of around 30 protesters gathered to express their displeasure with the coffee chain for pulling Enbridge ads off of Tim’s TV after an online petition called for their removal.
Some angry coffee drinkers took to Twitter to complain, tweeting with the hashtag #BoycottTims, which was trending in Canada Thursday.
Caitlyn Madlener, a political science student at the University of Calgary, organized Friday’s Calgary protest, at the Tim Hortons on the corner of 4 St. SW and 11 Ave., using social media to get the word out. Around 30 people showed up wearing signs and buttons supportive of Canada’s energy industry.
“We’re supporting tens of thou- sands of Calgarians and Albertans that are employed by the oil and gas sector and feel that they’ve been hurt by Tim Hortons’ actions,” Madlener said.
“I’m hoping that Tim Hortons can realize that what they’ve done is upsetting to most Canadians.”
Some protesters felt that misinformation about the oilsands makes people lash out against companies like Enbridge unfairly.
“I’m tired of people demonizing the oilsands. I’ve worked there,” said Don Sharpe, a paramedic.
“Every project I’ve been on there are so many rules for taking care of the site and taking care of spills. I mean, every single person up on the oilsands is a true environmentalist. They’re stewards of their ecology.”
Gail Thorne, another protester, was disappointed that Tim Hortons was “bullied by some environmentalists.”
“I think taking down that ad because of pressure from environmentalists is wrong,” Thorne said.
“Don’t be afraid of a radical few. If they’re going to pull their business, then we’re going to pull ours.”
Thorne, and others, felt it was hypocritical of Tim’s to pull the ads when their business depends on oil products.
Madlener had a bag of gift cards for other coffee companies, including Starbucks and Second Cup, that she says were donated by oil and gas companies to support the protest.
“There are people all across this country that aren’t going to be going to Tim Hortons anymore,” she said.
The protest on the street corner lasted around 45 minutes before anti-Timmies activists trickled back to work.
Agata, the manager of the Tim Hortons where the protest took place (she declined to give her last name), says that the coffee shop was as busy as it normally is all day.
Brendan, a geophysicist from an oil and gas company who also declined to give his last name, came to see the protest and buy a doughnut from Tim’s. “I think it’s silly,” he said. “I don’t know that boycotting Tim Hortons on the street corner translates into supporting the oil and gas industry, really. It’s not gonna affect my work.”
Sharpe worries about what might be next on the agenda after activists pressured Tim Hortons to pull the Enbridge ads.
“If they pull a truly innocuous TV out of their stores, what’s next? ... What are these oilsands haters ... what are these people going to go after next?”