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.