RCMP called for urgent action weeks before carbon tax protest fizzled: internal emails
Emails obtained by CTV News show RCMP in Cochrane calling for action and urgent meetings with Alberta's transportation ministry over a months-long carbon tax protest along the Trans-Canada Highway west of Calgary.
"We have a developing situation at the Protest Site at Cochrane today," wrote Cochrane RCMP Sgt. Matt Pumphrey in a Sept. 20 email to several provincial government staffers, including the transportation ministry's head of emergency management.
"I send this to you for awareness and action as it is becoming more and more important from a public safety standpoint to have this site cleared," the sergeant wrote in asking for an urgent discussion on the matter.
The emails between the RCMP and the province were obtained through a Freedom of Information request. The province's written response to Pumphrey's email is completely redacted.
"Right around that time, we had intelligence from the Calgary Police Service that there was going to be another protest that was scheduled to happen in Calgary (and it) was going to happen at that site as well," Pumphrey said on Wednesday.
"It ended up one group showed up, the other group did not. So, we were kind of planning for three different protest groups to come at the same time, but that never materialized."
The protest started along the highway near Cochrane in April as hundreds gathered to speak out against the federal carbon tax.
Protesters waved flags and signs, honked horns and parked campers at the rest stop, and they pledged to stay until the carbon tax was removed.
By October, the group had left with an organizer telling CTV News their departure was due to the looming cold weather and a feeling of being unheard.
The RCMP response in the first week was significant, with uniformed officers observing and standing between protesters and the traffic on the highway.
As the crowd thinned out, so did the presence of officers.
"We were driving by on a daily basis for a while, both in marked and unmarked police cars, just to make sure to keep the site safe for protesters if people want to protest at it. That is a lawful right that people have," Pumphrey said.
In questions about his September request, he says the province was co-operative and in regular contact with them.
There never was a request for RCMP to forcefully remove protesters, the sergeant said, as protesters left on their own.
Devin Dreeshen, Alberta's transportation minister, said he was not aware of the specific emails from RCMP to members of the government but said enforcement is the responsibility of the police.
"When it comes to enforcement issues, that's something that the RCMP, if they see that there is some public safety issue that they need to intervene, that would be an enforcement issue that the RCMP would take," he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Donald Trump picks former U.S. congressman Pete Hoekstra as ambassador to Canada
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has nominated former diplomat and U.S. congressman Pete Hoekstra to be the American ambassador to Canada.
Genetic evidence backs up COVID-19 origin theory that pandemic started in seafood market
A group of researchers say they have more evidence to suggest the COVID-19 pandemic started in a Chinese seafood market where it spread from infected animals to humans. The evidence is laid out in a recent study published in Cell, a scientific journal, nearly five years after the first known COVID-19 outbreak.
This is how much money you need to make to buy a house in Canada's largest cities
The average salary needed to buy a home keeps inching down in cities across Canada, according to the latest data.
'My two daughters were sleeping': London Ont. family in shock after their home riddled with gunfire
A London father and son they’re shocked and confused after their home was riddled with bullets while young children were sleeping inside.
Smuggler arrested with 300 tarantulas strapped to his body
Police in Peru have arrested a man caught trying to leave the country with 320 tarantulas, 110 centipedes and nine bullet ants strapped to his body.
Boissonnault out of cabinet to 'focus on clearing the allegations,' Trudeau announces
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced embattled minister Randy Boissonnault is out of cabinet.
Baby dies after being reported missing in midtown Toronto: police
A four-month-old baby is dead after what Toronto police are calling a “suspicious incident” at a Toronto Community Housing building in the city’s midtown area on Wednesday afternoon.
Sask. woman who refused to provide breath sample did not break the law, court finds
A Saskatchewan woman who refused to provide a breath sample after being stopped by police in Regina did not break the law – as the officer's request was deemed not lawful given the circumstances.
Parole board reverses decision and will allow families of Paul Bernardo's victims to attend upcoming parole hearing in person
The families of the victims of Paul Bernardo will be allowed to attend the serial killer’s upcoming parole hearing in person, the Parole Board of Canada (PBC) says.