Protest convoy nearing Ottawa
Aconvoy of angry Albertans and other westerners rolls into Ottawa today for a mass protest against federal energy and environmental policies that has also become a magnet for extremist, anti-immigrant elements.
A couple of hundred vehicles are expected on Parliament Hill as part of the United We Roll convoy, which began in Red Deer on Valentine’s Day and made its way east over four days with stops for rallies along the way.
“The core message is we need immediate action for our pipelines to get in the ground, to get to tidewater and to the rest of Canada,” said lead organizer Glen Carritt, the owner of an oilfield fire and safety company in Innisfail.
The protesters want the Liberal government to scrap the carbon tax and two bills that overhaul environmental assessments of energy projects and ban oil tankers from the northern coast of British Columbia. Carritt said participants also are unhappy about the government’s recently signing a non-binding United Nations compact on global migration.
Carritt said Canada’s borders “need to be controlled” by Canada and its citizens, not the United Nations.
Another convoy was originally created by a group that called itself Canada Action, which cancelled the plan and refunded thousands of dollars in donations after that effort became associated with extremist elements in the Yellow Vests Canada movement.
Carritt originally referred to his convoy as a “yellow vest convoy” but renamed it United We Roll after it too was linked to people spewing hateful rhetoric against Muslims and immigrants.
“After much consideration we have decided to make this convoy about being inclusive and supporting Canadians first and foremost,” Carritt wrote on the protest’s GoFundMe page in late January. “Our new name is United We Roll!”
Some trucks in the convoy display the signature yellow vest garment on their front grilles but Carritt stresses the rally is open to anyone.
“Everybody’s involved,” said Carritt. “It doesn’t matter — you can wear a yellow vest, or blue coveralls or black hardhat or suit and tie. Everybody that’s peaceful is welcome.”
Jason Corbeil, another organizer, renounced any association with a Sault. Ste. Marie, Ont., yellow vest group that had claimed online to be part of the convoy. The blog of one of those organizers includes calls for specific politicians to be executed, refers to immigrants as “sub-human” and argues women don’t belong in politics.