ROLLING OUTRAGE
Truck convoy rolls through Sask. en route to Ottawa
Anti-government sentiment is the uniting force for many in the truck convoy that rolled through Regina this week on its way from Alberta to Ottawa. Many participants wear the yellow vests popularized by French protesters and sport slogans such as Make Canada Great Again, but they deny being racist or anti-immigrant.
Make Canada Great Again.
It’s a simple message, but it means a lot to Les Michaelson. It’s on his hat. He’s written it on the side of his truck, which he’s driving as part of the United We Roll Convoy that arrived in Emerald Park, just east of Regina, on Thursday night.
“It means that, right now, with Trudeau running the show, Canada is not a great country,” Michaelson said.
The same hats are on sale in the auction house where the convoy drivers have stopped for pizza and a rally. It’s the first overnight stopping point of their five-day journey from Red Deer, Alta., to Ottawa.
Dennis Bashutski of Kelliher, Sask., is manning the merchandise table. He says those hats are “timeless,” and one of his bestsellers. He has others options, some bearing profane messages directed against Justin Trudeau.
Some people customize their outfits. One man has written “Flush the Turd, 2019,” on his yellow vest, using a disparaging term of art for the prime minister.
Anti-government outrage is a central message of the convoy as it heads to Ottawa. Organizers may try to project a respectful image for the movement and shed charges of extremism, but there’s little hope of reining in the anger as the trucks pass through Saskatchewan.
“It obviously does run deep,” says Glen Carritt, the Innisfail, Alta., town councillor leading the convoy. “But we have to ask ourselves why it runs that deep? I’m not in favour of any of those messages. We still need to respect everyone.
“That just tells me how frustrated people are.”
The convoy drivers have just passed through Regina to overnight at the Ramada Hotel along the Trans-canada Highway, just beyond the city. Before that point, they were welcomed by cheering fans in Moose Jaw.
Carritt says 159 vehicles left Red Deer on Thursday morning, with more joining the convoy along the way.
Most are just run-of-the-mill pickup trucks. Carritt says that only about a dozen big rigs have made the journey. He expects more to join, but admits other trucks will be shed off as they pass through the country.
“It costs a lot of money to get across the country, but this just shows how frustrated Canada is,” he said.
The auction-house rally is a sea of yellow vests. “We’re the grassroots people of this country,” says a speaker.
Carritt rebranded the convoy from Yellow Vest (Official) to United We Roll in the midst of splits and turmoil over the controversy that has attached to the yellow vest movement.
But he’s not turning anyone away.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re yellow vest, blue coveralls, farmers, ranchers, veterans,” Carritt said. “Everybody’s coming on board to fight against the government.”
Canada’s yellow vest movement, inspired by violent antigovernment protests in France, has attracted its share of criticism. Opponents say anti-immigration messages on the groups Facebook pages are xenophobic, with some even crossing into outright racism.
But Saskatchewan supporters of the movement deny that’s a proper characterization of what they’re about.
“It’s sad that we have a few bad apples try to infiltrate our group and throw a bad name on us,” says Fred Warwick of Saskatoon, who made the trip out to the Moose Jaw gathering. “I want to be very, very clear: We are not racist.
“This is all about a government not looking after Canadians and our sovereignty, not looking after our vets, not looking after our oil and our economy.”
Supporter Al Church, a member of Yellow Vests Moose Jaw, says emphatically, “We’re not racists, we’re not bigots, and we’re not xenophobics, and we’re not homophobic. Most of us are a product of immigration, so how can we fault immigration, but it’s got to be controlled immigration.” Church said the last time he joined a protest was during the Vietnam War. “I’m protesting for your kids and your grandchildren.”
Oil, gas, coal, pipelines, direct democracy: these are the most popular things among the convoy drivers. Michaelson says every policy decision should be subject to a referendum.
Trudeau is, undoubtedly, the least popular.
The carbon tax and Bill C-69, which changes the approval process for major projects like pipelines, come in second and third. The United Nations seems close behind, and especially its non-binding Global Compact on for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
Dave Grass, an Estevan coal worker who runs the Facebook page Saskatchewan proud, is joining the convoy as far as Portage la Prairie, Man. He shares concerns about the global compact. He believes it could push Canada to open its borders.
“Who is in that mass migration?” he asks. “I don’t have a problem if you’ve got something to contribute to society. I don’t have a problem with immigration. I do have a problem when it’s being abused.”
He believes so-called irregular border crossers are abusing the system.
Grass’s views are moderate next to those of Garry Lewichew, a retired corporate pilot from the Calgary area. He complains specifically about people from certain countries and ethnic groups and religions.
“They’re not bringing the right people in,” he says of the Liberal government. “They’re bringing Third World people in with no skills who are going to be on our dole for the rest of their lives.”
According to Statistics Canada, many refugees do receive social assistance early in their tenure in Canada. But rates decline consistently the longer they stay in Canada. Less than four per cent of total social assistance expenditures are paid to refugee claimants, according to 2011 data.
More recent 2016 data on all immigrants shows that wages rise steadily with time in Canada. Of immigrants who became citizens, the average man arriving in 2006 earned about $25,000 the first year in Canada but roughly $40,000 10 years later. Female immigrants earned less.
But data means little in the face of pent-up political grievances.
“I’m 75 years old,” says Lewichew. “Why am I punished going through two Trudeaus in my lifetime?”
And even if the language can get ugly, it’s clear that much of it comes from a place of economic pain.
That’s certainly how it feels back in Estevan.
“We’ve been worried about what’s going to happen with the coal mines in that area, with coal mines all around, with the government wanting to shut all the coal-burning power plants down,” says Grass.
On Friday morning, the convoy departed Emerald Park just outside Regina. It will then head to Virden, Man., where another convoy will join up en route to Kenora, Ont., the next stopping point.
Saturday will see the convoy travel from Kenora to Sault St. Marie, Ont., and on Sunday it is scheduled to reach Arnprior, Ont., just outside Ottawa.
The convoy is scheduled to reach its final destination, Parliament Hill, on Feb. 19.