Residents from the Lakeland are taking a leading role in the Yellow Vest movement rallies.
Last week, local Jack Graham organized the convoy to Edmonton to bring greater awareness to the cause.
“A lot of people do know what’s going on already, but there’s a few people that don’t know and education is key,” explained Graham. “The only way to educate is by having it in people’s faces without being too pushy about it.”
The nation-wide movement aims to stop the carbon tax, Bill C-69, Bill C-48, and get pipeline projects in Canada running.
Graham said the Tuesday, Jan. 22 rally started with about 30 vehicles meeting in Lamont, but quickly grew to over 100 once they hit the highway.
While they didn’t have as many participants as they were hoping, Graham noted holding the event during the week was the best way of reaching the most people.
“I think it spread a bigger message, because it got a lot of attention. For a while there, we weren’t getting any attention about it, and it’s very important to get the attention without being radical or dangerous. We had a peaceful (protest), but are still able to spread the message,” he said.
Leading the way for the convoy was Bonnyville’s Angie Reid, who was happy they got the message across in a peaceful way.
“We stayed in the left lane, everybody could still commute and get to work. There might have been a minute delay, but it wasn’t too bad,” she described.
Graham was blown away by the support.
“I thought it was amazing and breathtaking. We even had people riding on horses down the side of the Anthony Henday cheering us on,” he recalled.
Reid added, “When you get to these convoys and rallies and see all the love and support, and everyone doing it for the same task, when I go and see these things it’s like we’re all brothers and sisters. It’s such a good feeling, and there’s so much support right across Canada for us.”
Now that they’ve had a successful rally in Edmonton, the group has their sights set on a cross country trek. They will be leaving for Ottawa, ON from Red Dee on Thursday, Feb. 14.
Reid is the coordinator for the Ontario to Newfoundland cross-Canada rally participants, will once again be leading the charge during the five-day journey.
According to Reid, they will be holding a “big protest” on Feb. 21, just two days after their arrival at parliament.
“We need the government to listen to its people. The government is there for us, we vote to put someone in place to represent us and listen to us. We feel, right now, that we’re being put on the back burner... because there’s hundreds of thousands of people that are on board with this and we’re being ignored,” expressed Reid.
Alberta supporters won’t be the only ones taking part in the cross-Canada convoy. Participants will be coming from all corners of the country, including New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario.
“It’s to show the (government) how bad they’re hurting Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and British Columbia. We want everybody... saying the same thing, that they’re getting hurt from the (government) and how they’re destroying Canada,” Graham stressed.
He continued, “We have over $100,000 donated for fuel already, and we have our stops mapped out. We’ve been trying to set up accommodations, and we’re trying to get some food trucks together along the way. It’s been going really great, and it’s amazing how many people are on board.”
Graham said the Yellow Vest Movement just wants to be heard.
“It’s a lot of Canadians that are fed up with the government, and the way we’re being treated. We’re uniting as one to stand up to them, to get our point across, and try to get them to listen,” explained Reid.
