Lloydminster – Following truck convoy protests in Grande Prairie, Nisku, Estevan and Medicine Hat, the Border City is getting in the game.
The “Oil and Gas Support” convoy is planned for Lloydminster on Saturday, Dec. 29. The muster point is Northern Livestock Sales, (formerly Heartland Livestock) on Highway 16 East, at the Highway 303 junction. Trucks should be ready to roll out at 11 a.m., according to organizers Dion Boser and Marc Ouellette. It is expected to last until 1 or 2 p.m.
A coinciding Yellow Vest rally is being held at the same time at Lloydminster city hall, at the intersection of Highways 16 and 17, adjacent the border markers.
The convoy will proceed westward through the city on Highway 16 to Range Road 20 and then turn south. It will immediately turn east onto the service road and rejoin Highway 16 eastbound at Range Road 15. It will then head back through the city eastbound, dispersing at the starting point.
In a Facebook posting, Boser noted the convoy is expected to give right of way to emergency vehicles and pedestrians. There should be no loaded dangerous goods or trailers. Participants should follow pilot truck directions. Traffic is not to be blocked at intersections. The convoy should keep moving, at 20 to 30 kilometres per hour. Hazard lights must be flashing and drivers must obey all traffic laws. On double lane roads, keep to the slow lane and allow traffic to move.
At meeting point, allow for trucks to access to/from livestock loading chutes.
“We’re doing it to get us all back working again, get the pipelines built and bring prosperity back to Canada,” Boser said. “We’re hoping to bring awareness, across the country, that the oil and gas sector is a huge contributor to taxes, schools, hospitals, etc. Losing this funding and investment hurts all Canadians, not just those people in Alberta and Saskatchewan.”
Boser is a pressure truck operator, working in the Lloydminster oilpatch.
