The western portion of the ‘United We Roll’ convoy departed Red Deer on February 14, enroute to Ottawa and are expected to arrive at Parliament Hill on February 19. People from all across the country have teamed up in the official convoy for Canada, and members from eastern Canada will meet them in Ottawa. Veterans will lead members of the group up Parliament Hill, and several speakers will give an address. Wade Woywitka, from Vermilion participated in the convoy and said, “The purpose of the convoy was to open people’s eyes to the fact that our oil cannot get to market because of Trudeau’s government. They bought the Trans Mountain Pipeline and are not building the expansion. It was already approved by previous government; all they had to do was let it be built. It all has to do with the United Nations’ sustainable energy agreement, and wanting everyone to go green. The new carbon tax and new bills are killing everybody in this province.” Woywitka has worked on the family farm and now in the oil patch. He finds that these issues have affected him in both ways. His fellow coworkers in the oil industry have taken massive pay cuts in the past few years, and he said that as a result, restaurants and small businesses are hurting due to the state of the energy sector and their carbon taxes or carbon pricing. He also noted the money farmers are losing every year due to carbon pricing and tax, as well as Bill C-48 (anti-tanker legislation) and Bill C-69 (no more energy expansion bill). “This whole thing is going to affect my children and grandchildren. I was giving up on my country and if I had sat back and done nothing, I wouldn’t have been able to look in the mirror knowing that there would be nothing left of it for my children and grandchildren. If we don’t act now, it may be too late to save our country, our energy sector, and our farmers,” said Woywitka. He noted that anyone wanting to join United We Roll for as little or as long as they like can register by calling Jason Corbeil at 1-403-363-9177 (western Canada) or Angie Ried at 1-709-787-1004 (eastern Canada). With long days of driving, convoy members were thankful to fellow Canadians for supporting them along the way. As of February 15, they had raised $79,725 of their $100,000 goal to help cover fuel costs and mechanical needs. To make a donation to United We Roll, you can visit https://ca.gofundme.com/yellow-vest-official-convoy-to-ottawa-2019.
