The United We Roll Convoy for Canada made a loud noise on Parliament Hill on Tuesday, with the horns of semis, pickups and cars blaring full blast.
Those vehicles lined Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill. With their stage relocated, most of the participants stood in the snow on the lawn, freezing in -9 C weather for the two-hour rally.
The issues raised by the speakers focused primarily on energy policy of the federal Liberal government, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. This included Bill C-69 (changing the National Energy Board and impact assessments), Bill C-48 (which bans oil tankers off the northern British Columbia coast), export pipelines, the carbon tax, agriculture and immigration.
The list of speakers was long, and included two federal party leaders, Andrew Scheer of the Conservatives, and Maxime Bernier, of the Peoples Party of Canada.
Numerous Conservative members of parliament and a few senators also spoke.
But perhaps more importantly, many members of the convoy took the microphone. Saskatchewan content included a lengthy speech by Estevan farmer and auctioneer Jason LeBlanc, whose semi and grain trailer was parked right up near the gate to Parliament. Jay Riedel and Ken Mehler, also of Estevan, and Joram Olweny of Weyburn also took the podium.
Saskatchewan parliamentarians included Senator Dave Tkachuk, and MPs David Anderson (Cypress Hills-Grasslands) and Cathay Wagantall (Yorkton-Melville).
A counter protest gathered on the opposite side of on Wellington Street, on the other side of the semis parked in front of Parliament. A strong shoulder-to-shoulder police presence separated the groups. The banners carried by many of the counter protesters said, “Separate oil and state,” “Water is life, water is sacred” and “No one is illegal.”
When the counter-protesters got a little excited, a long, loud and concentrated blast of the air horns from those sitting in the semis quickly and empathically drowned them out. This could be seen from social media live feeds.
One counter-protester carried the flag of the Soviet Union, beside another person carrying the Canadian flag. When the rally wrapped up, the counter protest ensured the trucks didn’t move anywhere for quite some time. A wall of police officers, coincidentally all wearing yellow high-visibility vests, slowly moved the counter protesters out of the way, allowing the convoy to depart about an hour later.
Glen Carritt, principle organizer of the convoy, said, “This is Canada. We’re the hard-working people of this country, and we’ve united this country by driving across it and meeting every single one of you.”
Carritt said they’ve had an amazing reception. And he was followed by the singing of O Canada and Amazing Grace, as well as a moment of silence which happened to coincide with the ringing of the bells from the Peace Tower.
Estevan farmer Jason LeBlanc spoke at length about the impact of a carbon tax on agriculture, the impact of the current federal government’s energy policies on Estevan, coal power generation, and how Saskatchewan has carbon capture and storage.
“This is a peaceful rally. It’s a bit of a warning shot. We want the prime minister to hear our message,” LeBlanc said. “The naysayers said it couldn’t be done. The keyboard warriors called us racists, bigots, and any other names they could think of as we made our way across this great country. The protesters tried to stop us just outside of Winnipeg, but our little peaceful convoy made it, and we’re here.”
He spoke of how farmers allow access to the land for the drilling of wells.
“Agriculture does not exist without oil and oil cannot be refined without agricultural land to drill on,” LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc also touched on climate change, noting how the world operates in a cyclical nature and will continue to do so. He called himself a “man-made climate change doomsday denier,” and pointed out that if Al Gore’s climate predictions had come true, he would be on Parliament Hill in shorts and sandals instead of freezing, wearing a jacket, gloves and bunnyhug.
“He got rich doing it,” LeBlanc said of Gore’s campaign on climate change. “Climate change is the most complex thing on the planet.”
Leblanc added, “Canada is not the issue.”
Riedel has been the principle organizer of Estevan Yellow Vest Movement protests, including the 427-unit convoy that passed through the Energy City on Dec. 22.
“Once we got to Ontario, we didn’t know what to expect,” Riedel said. He recounted how some communities along the way set off fireworks when they arrived.
“The emotional part of it, I can’t explain it until now.”
“We came across this country united.”
He noted about the carbon tax, “You’re going to be paying this carbon tax on a loaf of bread in the store.”
Riedel spoke of how Estevan used to have many jobs and there was a shortage of housing.
“Now there’s vacant houses. People are suffering.”
“We have to get all our resources to market – oil, gas, or anything else,” Riedel said. “To unite this country, that’s what this is all about. United we roll.”
Joram Olweny of Weyburn explained how he migrated lawfully to Canada 23 years ago, and through a long and difficult process, became a citizen. It took four years to become a citizen in 2001. He now works in the oilpatch and runs a business.
He expressed frustration at how current immigration policies are operating, and how lax it has become to walk across the border.
“I love the oilpatch. I love farmers. And that’s why I became a Canadian citizen,” Olweny said.
Ken Mehler said, “I’m in oil. I’m in coal.
“Oil is dead, and coal is becoming dead. Trudeau is tearing everything down.”
Mehler spoke of the two coal-fired power plants at Estevan, and a third at Coronach, and how they are all at risk with the current government.
“He wants to kill it,” Mehler said of Trudeau.
“The last guys leaving Estevan, turn out the damned lights, because you’ll be charged a carbon tax.”
Mehler added, “Our western oil should be a lot more important than oil coming in on tankers from other countries.”
Bernier, leader and founder of the People’s Party of Canada and MP for Beauce, said, “You’re not asking for a hand out, you’re not asking for any privilege. You’re asking to build a pipeline.
“We don’t need a carbon tax. We don’t need Bill C-69. We don’t need Bill C-48.
He promised to scrap those bills if elected prime minister, as well as to privatize the recently nationalized Trans Mountain Pipeline.
Bernier talked about using the constitution to push a pipeline through. “It’s safer to build a pipeline today,” he pointed out, noting that Quebecers remember the Lac-Mégantic disaster in 2013.
“We need to have a fair equalization formula,” Bernier added. “We need to ensure it is fair for everyone.”
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said: “I want to thank you in the United We Roll convoy that came all the way from Western Canada that your voices have been heard.”
“I am sick and tired of watching people chain themselves to trees and lying down in front of bulldozers, trying to block Canadian energy from reaching markets, but yet, day after day, we see tanker after tanker of foreign oil coming into our markets. It’s time for that to stop.”
Regarding his pipeline plan, Scheer said, “There was a time when the governments didn’t have to build pipelines, because the private sector did it with investors money.”
He said the Conservative plan would be to scrap Bill C-69 and the carbon tax.
“We’re going to build pipelines to get oil and gas off the railway,” Scheer said.
“We will work to build a west-to-east pipeline to get Western Canadian oil and gas to eastern markets, so you don’t have to import oil from countries like Saudi Arabia, Algeria and the United States.
“We’ve got your back, we’re fighting for you,” Scheer said.
