Early on chilly Saturday morning, a group of about 15 big rigs and another 20 or so other vehicles met at the Giant Tiger in Shawville to take part in the truck protests taking place in the nation’s capital.

CHIP 101.9 spoke with one of the organizers of the local group, Ralph Lang, as they were preparing to depart. Lang is a local cash-cropper who also operates a grain elevator in Clarendon as well as a fleet of trucks. He said that the protests weren’t about vaccine mandates for truckers, but against public health restrictions more broadly, from masks to indoor sports restrictions.

“Yeah, the mainstream media seems to talk about the vaccine passport or the vaccines at the border but that’s not what it’s all about. It’s all about all the mandates,” he said. “The masks, the kids in school, the mental health, the hockey rinks, these kids have to get back to exercise not masking all the time. They are not at risk. The 90-year-olds are at risk, I guess, and the 80-year-olds, but, normally, they die. It’s sad to say but we all are gonna die someday, but we need to end all this stuff.”

He said that their plan would be to head into Hull, park near the Museum of History and then walk across to Parliament Hill to join up with the rest of the protestors. When asked how long they planned to stay, Lang said that it was up to the individual participants.

Lang said that they had organized through social media, and their posts were getting significant engagement. He estimated that there were around 30 vehicles in total that showed up, but said their online supporters were far more numerous.

The full interview with Lang is available below:

The group headed down Hwy. 148 to Hull, where they parked and walked across to Parliament Hill. Photo by Caleb Nickerson.