The “United We Roll! Official Convoy for Canada!” pro-Trans Mountain and Energy East pipelines truck convoy will depart from Red Deer, Alberta on February 14 and reach Parliament Hill on February 19.
JWN energy news reports that organizer Glen Carritt says “a convoy of close to 300 units is coming together.”
Another convoy organizer Jason Corbeil tells The Sault Star that he expects that 180 trucks will depart from Red Deer and that there will be 400 trucks in Ottawa along with 1,500 personal vehicles.
The Sault Star highlights, “The Ottawa protest comes days before the National Energy Board releases a report on Trans Mountain’s impacts on marine life on the West Coast, where the [Trans Mountain] pipeline ends.”
While most of the trucks are expected to be coming from Alberta (including trucks from British Columbia) and stops along the way, that article adds, “A few trucks are expected to come from Eastern Canada, from New Brunswick, and Quebec.”
The GoFundMe account for the convoy set up by Carritt has raised $42,505 to date and explains that “these funds will be distributed to fuel trucks and mechanics that will be traveling with the convoy.”
The Regina Leader Post reports Carritt “said his group rebranded from its previous name of Yellow Vest (Official) Convoy to Ottawa, because of some problems with ‘professionalism’ on an associated Facebook page.”
The Calgary Herald adds that the United We Roll! convoy is welcoming protestors from the now defunct Yellow Vest convoy and that yellow vest convoy founder CJ Clayton is no longer working on the project but is passing the names of registrants to Carritt.
And The Globe and Mail notes that the idea of a cross-country convoy was first pitched by a group called Canada Action, but that they cancelled their action and refunded donations to avoid confusion with the yellow vest aligned convoy.
That newspaper report confirms, “The organizer of the second event, Glen Carritt, launched what he originally described as a yellow-vest convoy. He has since renamed it to United We Roll and recently removed most mentions of the yellow vests from his website and a GoFundMe page. However, he said his group still identifies with the yellow vests.”
The Globe and Mail also quotes two convoy participants – Max Conn and Jason LeBlanc – as not opposed to the yellow vest movement in this country. That report adds Conn will bring a yellow vest with him and lists the UN immigration pact as one of his concerns, while LeBlanc says he has no problem riding alongside yellow vest protesters.
As for the protest in Ottawa, JWN notes, “On February 19 the convoy will roll out of Arnprior to Parliament Hill, where they will be parking nearby. Speeches at Parliament Hill will begin at 11 a.m. and the rally will carry on until 4 p.m.”
That article also notes, “The permit for the rally indicates it will take place near the Centennial Flame and near the main stairs.”
The Estevan Mercury adds, “Carritt said they will be coming back to Parliament Hill on February 20, from 10 a.m. to noon for a few more speeches and to ensure everything is cleaned up.”
After that the convoy participants will begin returning to their communities on their own timing.
While the truck convoy is intended to push the Trudeau government to remove obstacles to tar sands pipelines, the Trudeau government has already publicly stated it is firmly committed to the building of the 890,000 barrel per day pipeline.
There will also be counter-protests as highlighted in this Ottawa Against Fascism post, Mobilization needed to combat fascistic pro-pipeline convoy.
Image: Hector de la Pereda/Flickr
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