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Kenney denounces border crossing blockade; UCP MLA slammed for presence at protest

Kenney's statement did not address the presence of UCP MLA Grant Hunter at the protest

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Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is calling for the end of a demonstration blocking a southern Alberta border crossing — a protest attended by one of his MLAs on Saturday.

The protest along Highway 4 south of Lethbridge began Saturday in support of a national anti-mandate convoy that arrived in Ottawa earlier in the day. The movement was sparked by a federal mandate that came into effect this month requiring unvaccinated Canadian truckers re-entering Canada from the United States to get tested for COVID-19 and to quarantine. Vehicles remained parked on the important southern Alberta trade route, blocking traffic to and from the border and the Village of Coutts on Sunday. Mounties said they were continuing negotiations with the protesters to re-establish highway access.

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Kenney said while all Canadians have a democratic right to engage in protests, he urged those involved in the Coutts protest to do so safely and not to create road hazards that could lead to collisions or unsafe conditions.

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“If participants in this convoy cross the line and break the law, I expect police to take appropriate action,” Kenney said in a statement posted to Twitter.

“The current blockade of Highway 4 at the Coutts border crossing violates the Alberta Traffic Safety Act. It is causing significant inconvenience for lawful motorists and could dangerously impede the movement of emergency service vehicles. This blockade must end immediately.”

Kenney’s statement did not address the presence of UCP MLA Grant Hunter at the protest.

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The Taber-Warner MLA posted to Facebook a photo of himself and family members standing between two semi-trucks at the protest.

“I brought the grandkids down to the Coutts border today to show them the importance of standing up for freedom and liberty,” Hunter’s Saturday post reads.

I brought the grandkids down to the Coutts border today to show them the importance of standing up for freedom and liberty #freedomconvoy

Posted by Grant Hunter on Saturday, January 29, 2022
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Hunter’s presence at the convoy has drawn criticism from across the aisle. NDP Leader Rachel Notley said in a statement her party “unequivocally condemns” the blockade near Coutts and “the many examples of hateful symbols and vandalism seen across Canada this weekend.

“To put it bluntly, a small group first claiming to be concerned about the possibility of grocery shortages have now most assuredly caused them,” she said.

“We are calling on Premier Jason Kenney to denounce this blockade of Alberta’s only international border crossing and work to restore full access to Coutts for emergency vehicles and transportation. The premier must also formally direct his MLA for Taber-Warner to end his participation in this blockade of Alberta’s economy.”

Kenney is in Washington, D.C., appealing to American governors about the mandate that prompted the protests. During a COVID-19 update on Thursday, Kenney said he decided to go to the National Governors Association annual meeting in Washington, D.C., “at their prompting.”

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Mount Royal University political science professor Duane Bratt said Hunter is inadvertently supporting criticisms of his own party with his presence at the demonstration.

“That trucker convoy was not just there about trucker vaccine mandates and quarantines, it was about removing all vaccine mandates. The majority of vaccine mandates are actually at the provincial level,” he said.

“So if you’re upset about proof of vaccination to go to a sporting event, or a restaurant or campus, if you’re upset about masks, that’s all at the municipal and at the provincial level . . . Grant Hunter remains a member of the UCP but he is supporting protests that are, in part, protesting his own government.”

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Hunter wouldn’t be the first friendly fire Kenney has seen of late. Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes and Central Peace-Notley MLA Todd Loewen were kicked out of Kenney’s caucus in May after 16 UCP MLAs signed a public letter criticizing the government’s COVID-19 response.

“It is quite remarkable that you’ve got so many UCP backbenchers criticizing their own government and, in this case, actually participating in what should be an illegal protest by their own definition,” said Bratt, referencing the UCP’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act.

The act, established in 2020, allows the province to charge people who block critical infrastructure, including highways. It was the first piece of legislation passed by the UCP government after its 2019 election as a response to Indigenous-led protests and blockades impeding construction of pipelines.

The province has not utilized the legislation since its inception and Bratt said this protest likely won’t be the one to prompt the province to enforce it.

“(When the bill was introduced) this looked like political opportunism at groups upsetting oil and gas,” said Bratt.

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“If you believed in Bill 1, as Hunter did, this seems to be a complete contradiction to that. But is it OK because the protest involves something he supports, as opposed to protests that he doesn’t support? You can’t have a legal system like that. You can’t have laws that distinguish on protests, whether you like them or whether you don’t.”

In his statement, Kenney said the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act gives police and prosecutors additional penalties to levy as a tool to address blockades of highways and other infrastructure when and where they deem appropriate.

Postmedia’s request for comment from Hunter’s constituency office was not immediately returned.

mrodriguez@postmedia.com

Twitter: @michaelrdrguez

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