Frustration escalates at Coutts border crossing

Protesters have been blocking access to the border crossing since Saturday afternoon in support of the convoy that invaded Ottawa.

Canadian trucker John Schwarz was stuck for more than 40 hours on his return from Idaho.

These guys basically took us hostage and no one is doing anythingdid he declare. The GRC is there, but we are told that their hands are tied.

On Monday afternoon, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) confirmed that some stuck motorists and truckers were able to leave the border crossing.

By dint of negotiating and having continuous discussions with the organizers of the event, they finally agreed to open a path and some vehicles were allowed to leaveindicated the corporal of the GRCCurtis Peters.

Some of these guys have been stuck here for three days without showers or food and away from their families. So this is good news for them.

On Monday, school transport was canceled and school did not take place for students in the small village of Coutts, according to the GRC.

Coutts Mayor Jim Willett is frustrated because trucks on Highway 4 are blocking mail and business access for his community’s 250 residents.

I’m disappointed, did he declare. He adds that the organizers had told him that the protesters would slow down traffic, but would not block traffic.

Everyone has the right to protest, it’s part of the freedoms we have here in this country. They had to slow down the traffic, but leaving an access. These promises did not last long. As long as they block access to shops or the highway, they lost some of my sympathylaunched Jim Willett.

The GRC tells people trying to get to the United States to use another port of entry and turns truckers and other motorists back about 15 miles from Coutts.

For their part, Montana officials are stopping and advising motorists to find an alternate route as they will be stranded once they arrive in Canadasays Curtis Peters.

An Alberta MP will demonstrate

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Alberta Transportation Minister Rajan Sawhney called on social media for the lockdown to be dismantled quickly.

In addition, the Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation, Doug Schweitzer, is disappointed that his colleague, the United Conservative Party MP for Taber-Warner, Grant Hunter, went to meet the protesters this weekend. The MP issued a statement on Monday explaining himself and asking that protesters stop blocking access to the border crossing.

Last weekend I went with some of my family to the Coutts border to offer my support for a peaceful protest by truckers and farmers as is my constitutional right. I expressed my support [à l’idée] to return to normal in Alberta and move from pandemic to endemic. Truckers and farmers who have gathered at the border are at their wit’s end with the restrictions, as are most Albertans I speak to, said Grant Hunter.

That being said, a peaceful protest is not a blockade that prevents people from moving freely and so I ask those blocking the Coutts border crossing to let people throughadded the MP.

The Canadian Meat Council is concerned that the situation will continue. Over 150 loads of beef are waiting to cross the border at Coutts/Sweetgrass. It is not yet known what the provincial or federal government is doing to facilitate a resolution. The longer it takes, the more supply chain issues it will cause and it will affect everyone from producer to consumersaid the spokesperson for the organization, Marie-France Mackinnon.

With information from CBC