On April 1st, thousands of people joined along multiple border crossings across Canada along the #1 highway to show their support against the Carbon Tax and the price hike occurring that same day.
The Highway Hotline showed traffic is down to 60 km/hr. The RCMP said they will remain on scene and that drivers should expect delays.
Tanner Milligan helped coordinate the protest on the provincial border between Kirkella, Manitoba and Fleming, Saskatchewan.
“The big drive for me was when my dad and I had a talk a couple months ago and he said, ‘Tanner, I’m almost 70 years old now, I should be retiring. Now we are struggling so much that we’re constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul’. My dad outright said to me, ‘I will never be able to retire’. And that killed me to hear. My mom has two jobs, and they’re not going to be able to retire. I could not pass this up to try to get Canadians together to get a voice united once again to say, ‘Hey, we’re not happy with what’s going on.’”.
On Wednesday, April 3rd the Royal Canadian Mounted Police temporarily blocked the westbound lane on the #1 highway between the provincial border crossing and threatened the protesters with arrest for criminal mischief.
Tanner Milligan is a fourth generation farmer from Arcola who heard about the plan for a possible protest regarding the Carbon Tax. “Once I got into the details of what this was all about, I jumped in with both feet. The Carbon Tax is making people choose between heating their house and filling their fridge, and in Canada, that’s not right.”
The Carbon Tax is a large discussion happening across Canada at all levels of government currently.
The federal government says eight out of 10 families receive more in carbon rebates than they pay under the carbon tax.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre wrote in a letter on Tuesday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should convene an emergency meeting with the country’s premiers to discuss the federal carbon price. The letter was circulated after the $15-per-tonne increase to the consumer carbon price that went into effect on Monday.
Yorkton-Melville Member of Parliament Cathay Wagantall mentioned, “We need to look at the fact that 70% of Canadians have expressed a desire to see this tax removed, along with seven premiers.”
Speaking about Canadians voicing their opinion against the price increase, Wagantall said, “I think what’s happening at our provincial borders speaks volumes about how Canadians are feeling. They are willing to go out and do again what they have done in the past to some degree – being present on our highways and expressing their concern that the Prime Minister simply will not listen to their concerns. People are hurting and it’s real. The only thing that they’re asking is that the Prime Minister end this punitive tax on Canadians that is not impacting what he claims is a worldwide environmental crisis. People want to be responsible, but they also want our economy to thrive. Canada has what the rest of the world needs and we have the research and technology to assist other countries that need to reach our level in caring for our environment. I’m very proud of our businesses, our farmers and everyday people right across Canada who are out expressing their concerns in a respectful way, but making it clear to the Prime Minister that we will not lessen our efforts in urging him to stop harming Canadians in the way that he is with this Carbon Tax”.
Warren Kaeding, MLA for the Melville-Saltcoats Constituency, spoke about Canadians voicing their frustration.
Kaeding said, “Regarding the anti-Carbon Tax protests that we are observing the past couple of days, speaks to the effect that these unfair taxes are having on the average person across the country”.
He continued, “As a government we are vehemently opposed to the Carbon Tax as it is an arbitrary and unfair tax that makes the costs of consumer goods and products that we produce in our province and across the country more expensive. Regardless if our Federal Government attempts to explain that the average citizen makes out better with the carbon tax, that fact alone has been refuted by the Parliamentary Budget Office”.
“What many don’t realize is that the Carbon Tax does not exist in isolation”, said Kaeding. “There are stacked ‘Carbon Taxes’. There are the clean fuel regulations predicated on a price on carbon, Federal Output Based Performance Standards placed on our industry, there are federal and provincial fuel excise taxes and federal and provincial sales taxes as well as the GST charged on the carbon tax. All of these additional items are based on a price on carbon. This affects both the goods we consume in this province and on goods we export out of this province. Exporting products that compete in markets that generally do not have a Carbon Tax”.
Speaking about alternate options to a price on carbon, Sask Party MLA Kaeding said, “Our preference would be to support innovation and investment in our industries that currently produce the most sustainable goods in the world. Whether it is our agricultural products, potash or oil and gas our Sask grown products have been found to be produced with the lowest carbon footprint versus anywhere else in the world”.
The ongoing protests along the #1 TransCanada Highway started on April 1st and are intended to be a family friendly event according to local organizer Tanner Milligan. “We’re stressing safety as our top priority. We are on the edge of a highway and we need to be safe. We have a couple of shelters to get out of the wind. We have lots of food donations and supply donations that are coming in from locals”.
Milligan spoke about the geographical areas that people have travelled from, mentioning folks from Winnipeg to Churchbridge, Arcola to Esterhazy joined to show their support. Many Canadians who attended stayed overnight to rejoin the protest in the morning.
“Our goal is to provide at least one meal a day for those people that are here”, said Milligan. “If you come here, make sure you eat breakfast and we will provide a hot lunch of some sort, hot dogs, hamburgers, or whatever we have that’s available. There are two porta-potties at the main entrance and one by our shelters where everyone congregates as well. We’re here for the long haul.”
Speaking about the first day of the protest, Milligan mentioned, “Everything was really good with lots of friendly faces, hugs and horns nonstop. There were nonstop smiles, thumbs up, people giving encouragement all the way”.
There is a Facebook page named Nationwide Protest Against the Carbon Tax with more information regarding the group’s codes of conduct, what to expect at the protests and a mission statement.
There is also a local Facebook page with information named Nationwide Protest Against the Carbon Tax – Saskatchewan/Manitoba.