A standing-room only crowd gathered Sunday afternoon to voice their concerns with the Notley government and its carbon tax.
Prior to the start of the event inside the Westin Hotel, organizer Ezra Levant of The Rebel requested the removal of a group of people he described as ‘NDP tricksters’.
“There is a New Democrat brigade in the corner there that has been shouting. I would like to ask my New Democrat friends to go to an NDP meeting and allow us to have our meeting,” said Levant. “I’d like my friends to gently escort the NDP extremists who have come to disrupt our event.” Hotel security escorted several people from the conference room as the crowd cheered.
Levant told the crowd he was encouraged by the turnout given the frigid temperature outside.. “The fact that you chose to come to a public meeting about a punitive carbon tax tells me you care about your province.”
“Albertans don’t want this tax. Albertans are hurting,” said Levant. ‘What insanity is it for Alberta, an oil producing jurisdiction, to hit ourselves with these carbon taxes when our chief competitor and our number one customer (the United States) is going another way.”
In addition to Levant, the slate of speakers included:
- CPC leadership candidate Chris Alexander
- CPC leadership candidate Kellie Leitch
- CPC leadership candidate Brad Trost
- Strathmore-Brooks MLA Derek Fildebrandt
- Other members of The Rebel media group
- Bernard the Roughneck
Calgary’s event follows last weekend’s rally on the steps of the Alberta Legislature that drew an estimated crowd of 3,000 people.
According to staff of the Westin Hotel, the ballroom had been arranged for the rally with seating for 900 people.
