Protesters make sure they’re heard

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This article was published 06/01/2019 (2462 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VIRDEN — Frustration with the Liberal government was as loud and clear as the rumble of diesel engines in the air.

Truckers from as far away as Saskatchewan converged on the outskirts of Virden Saturday morning to show their displeasure with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government.

While there was no official tally, organizers of Manitoba’s first yellow vest protest convoy estimated as many as 200 vehicles — from big semis to oil trucks — met at the staging area at Sparks Sand & Gravel.

Dislike for the Liberals, and Trudeau in particular, was evident in words and on the yellow-vest placards stuck to the grilles of some of the semis lined up in rows, with one sign declaring “Make Trudeau a drama teacher again! Umm, err, uhh.”

Standing next to his rig, Pierson trucker John Drader hauled out a laundry list of grievances, including immigration policies, attacks on the oil industry and the carbon tax.

“We’re just here to show Trudeau and the government that we’re not just going to stand around and take it anymore,” he said, as truckers gathered together, waiting for the procession to begin.

“I want the oil to get out to the market, instead of being gridlocked,” said Annette Jeselon, who hauls pipe in the summer and spends the rest of the year farming in the Virden area.

As the truckers gathered, a Virden Oil Capitals junior hockey team bus drove past, honking enthusiastically.

Members of the loosely affiliated yellow vest movement — which began in France in mid-November with protests over rising fuel prices and has since moved across Europe and North America — say they oppose the carbon tax, illegal or “irregular” immigration, any censorship laws or measures and the import of foreign oil. They also call for a total reform of Canada’s electoral system and equalization payments, cutting “wasteful spending in Ottawa” and withdrawal from the United Nations Global Compact for Migration, a non-binding intergovernmentally negotiated agreement that covers all dimensions of international migration.

Waiting at the staging area for the convoy to begin, Damen MacGillivray, a Brandon wealth-management consultant, said he organized the protest convoy to draw attention to federal government policies that have had a negative effect on Canadians.

“These policies just don’t help the average person,” he said, pointing to the carbon tax, designed to cut emissions, as one example.

In Manitoba, the tax will result in a hike in fuel prices starting April 1, with the province giving money back in the form of rebates.

“Is the solution more taxation? Personally, I don’t think so,” MacGillivray said.

As the rumble of engines grew louder, MacGillivray said many of the truckers in the convoy depend on the oil industry for their livelihoods, and they blame the government for their woes.

Radical elements, however, have shone a negative light on the movement, with some calling it racist, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic.

Last month, at a protest rally in Edmonton, a handful of members from the anti-immigration, white nationalist group Soldiers of Odin were reportedly seen at the protest.

The organizer of the protest told local media he was a former member of the group.

MacGillivray said organizers have no control over who attends their rallies.

Here, only genial-looking truckers clutching Tim Hortons coffee and kids playing around their parents’ legs could be spotted in the crowd.

The only police presence was an RCMP vehicle waiting to escort the convoy to Brandon, where city police would take over.

The atmosphere turned more serious, though, as speakers climbed aboard the back of a semi to decry the Liberal government’s policies.

“The silent majority is silent no more,” declared Rob Dinsdale, a member of the local electoral district association who took the microphone on behalf of Conservative MP Larry Maguire (Brandon-Souris), who couldn’t attend the event for personal reasons.

Those who work in the oil and gas industry “are the unsung heroes that make sure we have fuel for our homes and fuel to drive our vehicles,” Dinsdale said, and he blasted what he called Trudeau’s “war” on the energy sector.

“Let’s be loud enough today so that Trudeau hears us all the way in Ottawa.”

Virden Mayor Murray Wright was more blunt as he spoke briefly to the crowd.

“I know what I’d like to do with Mr. Trudeau, but I would be in jail if I did do that,” Wright said to chuckles as he pointed out the Virden area is the oil capital of Manitoba.

In an interview with The Brandon Sun last week, Brandon University political science professor Kelly Saunders said Conservatives share a lot of the same concerns over immigration and the carbon tax, “so no surprise they would be building on this a little bit or using some of this momentum to their own advantage.”

With less than a year to go before the next federal election in October, it has been difficult for the party to get that ballot-box issue, Saunders said, adding while it could change, the economy is robust and employment is healthy.

Before bowing their heads in prayer to start the convoy, the truckers were given sage advice: drive safely, avoid conflicts with anyone along the way and stick to 80 kilometres an hour — far below the 110 km/h speed limit on the Trans-Canada Highway.

It was advice apparently taken to heart as the protesters rolled into Brandon nearly two hours later. The drive between Virden and Brandon would normally take less than an hour.

A small group of supporters holding up yellow placards waited for the truckers near the intersection of Victoria Avenue and 18th Street as motorists honked their horns and waved in approval.

Forced to split up at intersections, the truckers honked their own horns as the convoy rolled down Victoria before heading back north to the Trans-Canada.

» brobertson@brandonsun.com

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