The biggest problem with protests isn鈥檛 necessarily the protestors but how we react to them and their message.
This has clearly been the frustration for pipeline protestors, including those at an event last week in front of the Legislature in Regina.
The loss of oilpatch jobs because of a downturn in the oil economy made worse by the lack of pipelines is a serious problem. Yet it very much seems the federal Liberal government and Eastern Canada can鈥檛 hear the concern.
This was Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe鈥檚 message last week, when he stood before the protestors in -30 windchill.
鈥淲e feel like we鈥檝e been left out in the cold,鈥� Moe told 200 or so pro-pipeline protestors.
鈥淚 know at times it feels like no one is listening to us.鈥�
Moe鈥檚 sentiments were echoed by other speakers at this rally, including organize Cody Battershill who emphasized his group鈥檚 message was to be based on 鈥減ositivity, respective and inclusivity.鈥�
Prior to the event, Battershill made it known that the so-called yellow vest protestors were not welcomed 鈥� or at least, they would not be welcomed to wear their yellow vests. The yellow vest movement has come to be associated with violence in Europe. And here in Canada (including rallies in Regina) their messages have also been about anti-immigration and anti-vaccination and images threatening Trudeau鈥檚 safety.
鈥淲ear your hard hats, wear your work coveralls, but please don鈥檛 wear the yellow vests because that鈥檚 not what our movement is about,鈥� Battershill told the Leader-Post鈥檚 Arthur White-Crummey.
Sometimes, protestors鈥� messages do get side-tracked.
But the far bigger problem is that people often don鈥檛 listen, preferring to simply write off all protesters as malcontents or ne鈥檈r do wells. Certainly, many, in the federal government and Eastern Canada seem to be doing this pipeline movement because of the fringe.
Admittedly, last week鈥檚 protest did have its political leanings, with Moe and other Saskatchewan Party politicians at the podium and federal Conservative politicians like Senator Denise bashing federal Liberals at the microphone. (That said, this would hardly be the first protest we have seen in front of the Saskatchewan Legislature with a tinge of political partnership.)
Nevertheless, one can appreciate Moe鈥檚 frustration and the frustration of pipefitters, riggers and others those whose livelihoods are now at stake.
But there also is more than a little irony here.
It wasn鈥檛 so very long ago that Moe and his government encountered a very different kind of protest in front of the Saskatchewan Legislature.
It was the so-called teepee protest that started almost a year ago after Gerald Stanley鈥檚 not-guilty verdict after being charged with second-degree murder in the death of Colten Boushie.
That protest camp morphed into 鈥淛ustice for our Stolen Childen鈥�, focussing on past and present problems with Saskatchewan鈥檚 child welfare system.
Of considerable controversy was Moe鈥檚 decision not to visit the teepee camp or even meet with the protestors.
His stated reason for not doing so is that these 鈥渃ampers鈥� were conducting an 鈥渋llegal protest鈥� 鈥� unlikely last week鈥檚 noon hour protest that had permits from the Wascana Centre Authority.
But in another irony, Moe found himself apologizing the day before the pipeline protest for the 鈥淪ixties Scoop鈥� 鈥� government policy of adopting children from Metis and First Nations child and raising them in white homes.
This was actually a huge part of the very concerns raised by the teepee protestors this summer 鈥� who raised both historic wrongs of the Sixties Scoop and ongoing problems with social services.
Those protestors were also very frustrated by a politician that would not meet with them.
So maybe the lesson here is that we should all take the time to listen.
You never know what side of the protest you will on.
Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 22 years.
