Anti-carbon tax protesters frustrated with Smith
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Summary
Canadians from across the country gathered on Monday to protest the latest increase to the federal carbon tax. They gathered along provincial borders, on highways, and outside Liberal MPs' offices. Protesters at the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick provincial border even succeeded at slowing traffic to a near standstill until the RCMP rerouted the traffic.
Transcript
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Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup. I'm your host, Rachel Emanuel.
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Today, we are taking a look at one of the biggest news stories in the country this week.
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Canadians from across the country gathered on Monday to protest the latest increase to
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the federal carbon tax. They gathered along provincial borders, on highways, and outside
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Liberal MPs' offices. Protesters at the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick provincial border even
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succeeded at slowing traffic to a near standstill until the RCMP rerouted the traffic. The tax rose
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to $0.17 per litre of gasoline and $0.15 per cubic metre of natural gas on April 1st. And one of the
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biggest protests took place outside of Calgary on Highway 1 heading west towards Banff. A mere 15
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minutes from my house. You better believe I headed down there and here's a look at what I saw.
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Plan for today is just to get organized and meet and greet people and we're waiting on a phone call
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here to see if the sign place is open for traffic control and uh. So I just spoke to you and you
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said you've got no exit plan so you guys are planning to maybe camp out on the highway for a couple days?
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We're going to be camping out yeah because there's no departure date let's put it that way.
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They keep doing this and we have to basically make an effort to um to actually you know step up
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and actually you know voice voice our get our voice out and ensure that we're not actually going to
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continue with fuel prices the way that they are. I came out here today because people are having
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trouble buying food and paying rent and paying for their mortgages. We're being taxed again
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and more and more people are falling behind. They can't keep up. I'm standing here for the people
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who can't be here because I we deserve to have our rights to peaceful protest.
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It seems that organizers weren't joking about it being just a one-day protest.
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I returned on Tuesday and many were still there about a hundred to be exact
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but the scene had changed significantly there was about 30 officers stood between protesters
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and the highway to ensure that they would have no chance of blocking traffic once again.
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It looks foolish. It's a waste of taxpayer money. They're standing in a ditch watching us smile, wave,
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Also on Tuesday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was asked how she felt about the protesters and here's
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what she had to say. Well look, let me give that direction. I don't support it when Extinction
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Rebellion glues themselves to the street and stops traffic and I don't support anyone stopping traffic
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as well. You can protest, do it at the side of the road, don't interfere with the movement of goods,
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don't interfere with the movement of your neighbors. It's the reason why we have the
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Critical Infrastructure Act and I would just ask people to be compliant with the law.
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Some protesters told me that the Premier should have been there supporting them
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and that her absence caused them to lose support for her.
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Do you think the Premier should be here? Yes. Do you support her? No.
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Because she isn't here or just you never have? Just because she's not here.
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But I'm sure we would all love to talk to her and give her the time of day, right? Right.
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We're all supposed to be in this together. This isn't Ontario, this is Alberta.
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So, you know, a lot of Albertans have had her back and we voted for her, I voted for her.
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So, Danielle Smith, we're disappointed. I mean, she should be here, right? She's our Premier.
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So, you're disappointed in the Premier. Do you think that she should be here supporting you guys?
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Well, at least finding out what we're standing for.
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Did you hear today she said that she doesn't think that protesters should be blocking highways?
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We didn't actually block the highway, so that's probably a rumor. There was traffic flowing all
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day long. Yeah. Just slowing traffic. That police blocked the highway up on that hill yesterday.
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That brings me to my question of the week. Do you still support Alberta Premier Daniel Smith,
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or do you believe that she should have been more supportive of the carbon tax protesters
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and maybe even attended one of the many demonstrations? Comment on the video below and
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I'll respond to some of the best comments under Saturday's episode. Okay, everyone. That's all
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we have time for today. I will be following this story with close interest. You can see all my
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updates on my X account or simply stay subscribed to True North for the latest updates. I'll see you
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guys on Saturday. Have a great rest of your week and God bless.