The second day of protest on Parliament Hill on Wednesday was a much more staid affair, than Day 1 the previous day.
The semis, bus, pickups and cars again lined Wellington Street. They let out their air horn blasts. Several speakers took to the microphones. But this day, only one politician spoke, Lethbridge Conservative MP Rachael Harder.
Most of the TV cameras were gone, and it was mostly convoy participants speaking to themselves. The number of live feeds on social media dropped substantially, as did the number of people watching.
There were no screaming counter-protesters lined up against a wall of police.
Organizer Glen Carritt took the microphone. He had led the convoy halfway across the country.
“We’ve been through some ups and downs and sideways,” he said. That statement could be taken literally, as on this day their podium, and the convoy participants, were on the dry sidewalk. The first day on Parliament Hill they were forced to stand on the lawn in the knee-deep snow a few metres to the right, instead of the empty sidewalks which were lined with barricade fences.
Using a sports analogy, Carritt said, “When you get the puck, you get hit. We got the puck.”
Carritt said he was a peaceful, hardworking Albertan. With regards to the controversy regarding yellow vest involvement, he picked up and put on a red high-visibility striped jacket that was hanging on the podium, as well as a red hardhat. He said, “Red jacket – same guy.”
Then he took off the jacket and hardhat, and donned a yellow vest. “Yellow vest,” he said. “Guess what? Same guy.”
Carritt said rallies had been held in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, but what really needed to happen was to bring trucks to Parliament Hill. And the big rigs of the convoy were parked right under the Prime Minister’s office, blaring their horns.
He spoke of the journey across the country, with a core of 60-80 trucks after starting out with 159. He knew many would only go part way.
“We never knew for sure,” he said of their numbers. Once we hit the Ontario border, we were completely overwhelmed,” Carritt said. He pointed out Canadians had common interests.
“It was fantastic to see the support. We had an extra 14 hours of travel because we wanted to stop and support these people,” he said of all the communities along the way where people came out and lined the road.
“We pulled onto Parliament Hill, and we had a lot of watery eyes,” he said.
“We’ve reached out to all of Canada. The whole country has become united with this convoy. We’re making history here. We’re going to keep making noise until we get change,” he said.
Carritt also addressed an open question that has been floating around on social media – in particular, what will happen with the GoFundMe money that was donated to support the convoy. By Feb. 20, one campaign for the United We Roll convoy had raised $138,000. Carritt also had, at that point, control of most of the money from the original Yellow Vest convoy, which had raised $93,000.
With regards to this, Carritt told the crowd, “The money will get dispersed. Every person will be taken care of, no matter what.”
He pointed out that when they left, the one campaign had $30,000, which was only enough to cover the expenses for a few big rigs. He also said it takes time for the money to be released from GoFundMe.
While initial plans were for the convoy to disperse from there, with each participant on their own coming back, Carritt indicated they would be travelling back together, and thanked the towns that supported them.
Jay Riedel of Estevan read an email from a woman which spoke of the hardship oilfield families have gone through.
Riedel, who organized efforts for southeast Saskatchewan, along with the ongoing Estevan protests, said, “These people are my brothers and sisters. We’re making history. It’s unbelievable.”
