A small convoy of truckers gathered in Lamont, Alta. Tuesday morning to kick off a travelling pro-pipeline rally that was scheduled to reach Anthony Henday Drive in Edmonton by midday.
By the time it reached Edmonton, the convoy was up to about 40 trucks, said a CBC reporter monitoring the protest.
With messages such as “Build the pipe!” plastered on the side of their rigs, the group was significantly smaller than the contingent of more than 1,000 trucks that rolled through the streets of Nisku last month.
About two dozen trucks and rigs assembled Tuesday morning in Lamont, 60 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.
Organizer Glen Carritt said he expected more would join along the way.
“We don’t want to frustrate the working-class people but what we have to do is get out the message,” said Carritt, who runs a fire and medical safety service company operating in Alberta’s oilpatch.
“We’re doing this because we’re tired of the slowdown in the oil and gas industry,” he said. “People have to realize we’re fighting for Canada. We need to get that message out there.”
The protest was dubbed the “Stand Up Canada Yellow Vest Pipeline Rally.” Several participants said they wanted to highlight issues beyond pipeline capacity, including immigration policy and the carbon tax.
“They need to realize we’re standing behind the issues we believe in,” said Carritt. “One is pipelines, one is the UN [migration pact] and the other is the carbon tax, and Bill C-48 and Bill C-69.”
Bill C-48 would prohibit tankers carrying crude oil from loading or unloading at ports in northern British Columbia, formalizing a similar, voluntary ban that has been in place in the region for the last 20 years. Bill C-69 is a proposal to overhaul how energy projects are approved in Canada.
Carritt said truckers are still planning a convoy to Ottawa, leaving Feb. 14 from Red Deer.
The Edmonton Police Service and the RCMP said they would be monitoring Tuesday’s convoy in their respective jurisdictions.