A Country Divided

"I want to do all we can do to protect this headquarters and protect the thousands of good, well-paying jobs we have at SNC-Lavalin."
"We know that SNC-Lavalin, that they didn’t follow legal rules — in Libya especially — and they have to pay for that, especially the people that were involved. SNC-Lavalin, I met the president, they are ready to put on the table very large amounts of penalty [financial fines]."
"Right now there is no controlling shareholder, so there’s a real risk that this company could be bought by somebody, for example from the U.K. For me, it would be bad news for Quebec."
"Can you [Prime Minister Trudeau] settle as soon as possible in order that we keep those jobs? We need those jobs."

"When I discussed that with Justin Trudeau, I’m not asking him not to punish SNC-Lavalin, I’m just trying to say, can you settle as soon as possible, in order that we keep the jobs. We need those jobs."

Quebec Premier François Legault on the SNC-Lavalin criminal case controversy

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier François Legault before departing for Yerevan, Armenia, at the Ottawa International Airport on Oct. 9, 2018. iPolitics/Matthew Usherwood

"There is no social acceptability for oil in Quebec. We have hydro electricity surpluses. So I'll try to sell them."

"There is no social acceptance for a pipeline that would pass through Quebec territory."

"I am not embarrassed to refuse dirty energy [from Alberta oilsands extraction] while we are offering clean energy [James Bay electricity] at a competitive price."

Quebec Premier Francois Legault

The “United We Roll” convoy of semi-trucks travels the highway near Red Deer, Alta., Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, on its way to Ottawa. Jeff McIntosh/THE CANADIAN PRESS

"The main message we are taking to Ottawa with this convoy is that our oil-and-gas sector is in trouble."
"We need a prime minister to be a champion for the industry that has done so much to fuel this country’s prosperity."
"We need to get our pipelines in the ground and soon. We need to abolish Bill C-69 and Bill C-48 and we need the carbon tax abolished."

Glen Carritt, convoy manager

"The carbon tax is killing us, our small town of Bonnyville is curling up and dying."

We've been told to hang on from our government, from five years ago, many, many people that we know and love up there, that we considered newfound oilfield family have moved, they've gone home, bankrupt."

"They're not only bankrupt financially, they're bankrupt emotionally."

Roberta Graham, Alberta protester, United We Roll group

The “United We Roll” convoy of semi-trucks prepares to leave Red Deer, Alta., Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, on its way to Ottawa to draw attention to a lack of support for the energy sector and lack of pipelines. Jeff McIntosh/THE CANADIAN PRESS

The six-day trip by road in large transport and semi-trailers has set out to mount their protest; a message from Alberta and Saskatchewan to Ottawa, that the Canadian Western provinces whose economy has buoyed Canada's economy and hugely, disproportionately supported Canada's equalization payments to the 'have-not' provinces like Quebec, are losing vital infrastructure, investment, employment and hope and will no longer stand for being shunted aside.

The trip from Red Deer to Regina, on to Kenora, Ontario, to Sault Ste. Marie, then Arnprior and finally Parliament Hill to be reached on the 19th is on its sway. The protest is not only about the shut-down of Canadian oil transport by pipeline then tanker, but includes complaints respecting 'open borders' and illegal migrants, and Saudi oil imports and the failure of the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau to build the Trans Mountain pipeline. 

In putting roadblocks in the way of pipelines to transfer oil to deepwater ports like British Columbia which ships out more dirty-burning, environmentally disabling coal than any other place in North America [yet adamantly refuses to allow an oil pipeline to go through the province from Alberta], Canada's oil industry is faltering, and income from discounted oil sales because of delivery failures has caused an economic crisis that is unsustainable. Pressure is on Ottawa to regard the fortunes of the Western provinces as fondly as the Liberals do Quebec/

The Liberal voting base is basically Quebec. There is a paltry three seats for the Liberals in Alberta, one in Saskatchewan and seven in Manitoba, a whisper of a presence in the Prairies. But the United We Roll convoy is determined to deliver their message to Ottawa in as forceful a way as possible: the future of the oil and gas industry is vital to the well-being of the country and the current stalemate that has crippled the industry has victimized too many Western Canadians with uncertainty about the future through mass unemployment. 

Glen Carritt, organizer of United We Roll convoy spoke of more trucks joining his convoy as it crossed Manitoba and entered Ontario. A convoy from Newfoundland estimated at 50-strong would also join up once in Ontario, making up for those lost to the convoy when it completed its first day rolling across the country because not everyone was able to take the requisite time it would take to drive across the country, after completing the first leg of the journey. Of the original number that set out 70 remained steadfast in the convoy. 

Along the route the convoy drivers came across supporters holding signs of encouragement and Canadian flags as they drove past. Those unable to join the convoy supported it financially through donations made with a GoFundMe campaign which gathered in $80,000 on the first day of the convoy's trip. "I can't make my own trip down to Ottawa myself, so I figured that the fuel I would burn I may as well hand it off to somebody else. It's just a little part that I figured I could do and try to help out I guess", explained Kelly Keil in his black Dodge pickup, handing out gallon containers of diesel fuel. 

While temperatures fell below -20C, even in the middle of nowhere supporters waited, waved, took photographs and cheered the convoy on. The carbon tax is a particular irritant to rural Canadians lacking an option to take public transit or those who depend on heavy machinery for work. The cancellation of the Energy East pipeline and the Northern Gateway, then the halt of the Trans Mountain expansion by a Federal Court of Appeal ruling has disheartened all too many.

Leader of the Parliamentary official opposition, Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer is scheduled to join Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe in Moosomin, near the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border for an associated rally. Polling in January from the Angus Reid Institute found almost two-thirds of Canadians view the lack of pipeline capacity in Canada as representative of a crisis. Quebec, with no agreeing majority saw 40 percent in agreement.

The Quebec Premier wails about the possibility of the corrupt activities of SNC-Lavalin earning it a guilty verdict in its criminal trial, resulting in a ten-year loss of government contracts, ending up with bankruptcy and thousands of jobs being lost for Quebecers. This is the same provincial leader who scorned the need for an energy east pipeline contaminating Quebec soil, a province that yearly takes in millions of tax dollars extracted from Alberta in equalization payments, yet has no concern that Alberta is suffering a loss of revenues and jobs.

More than 150 vehicles of various sizes took off from Red Deer Thursday morning en route to Ottawa. Robin Grant/Red Deer Express