Following truck convoy protests in Estevan, as well as Alberta communities of Grande Prairie, Nisku and Medicine Hat, the last weekend of 2018 was the Border City’s turn to get in the game.
The Oil and Gas Support convoy took place in Lloydminster on Dec. 29. The convoy mustered at Northern Livestock Sales (formerly Heartland Livestock) on Highway 16 and rolled out at 11 a.m., according to organizers Dion Boser and Marc Ouellette.
A coinciding Yellow Vest Movement rally took place at Lloydminster City Hall.
The convoy passed westbound through the city along Highway 16, to Range Road 20 and then turned south. It immediately turned east onto the service road and rejoined Highway 16 eastbound at Range Road 15. It then headed back through the city eastbound, dispersing at the starting point.
Boser said, “It went really well. The turnout was really good. I would say we had, it’s just a guestimate, I don’t have an official number, but about 150 trucks, and over 200, in total, with welding trucks, pickups and cars, what have you.
Asked what their cause was, he said, “I want to get the voice out there that enough is enough. We need the pipelines built. We need the tanker ban gone, so Canada can prosper again. Not just individuals and companies, all of Canada will benefit from our resources, whether it’s oil and gas, lumber, agriculture.”
Boser is a pressure truck operator in the oilfield, working a lot with service rigs.
“We had hydrovacs, we had semi vacs, wireline, rigs, other rig equipment, pressure trucks, welding trucks, pretty much anything you can think of in the oilfield was there,” Boser said.
“We had people from one end of Lloyd to the other, recording and waving.”
He said some people would like to do a convoy out to Ottawa.
Marc Ouellette, another organizer and owner of a trucking company, said, “I am tired of the situation here with the energy sector, and the government, both provincially and federally are not doing enough to make things go forward.
“Too many empty talks, with the carbon tax, saying that it’s social licence for us to get pipelines through. Unfortunately, they’re not going as planned. It’s time for them to realize that there’s an entire industry here in a chaotic state, and we need to take action.
“I hope our message gets amplified over the next weeks and months, and it resonates loud enough for the provincial government to move things forward and get this pipe built.”
Ouellette referred to the Trans Mountain Expansion Pipeline, and he would also like to see a revival of the Energy East Pipeline as well. As for Keystone XL, he noted Canada needs to get to other markets than the United States.
