Glen Carritt, organizer of the Yellow Vest Convoy to Ottawa, denies radicalism, calling it a peaceful movement by average citizens—not the oil industry—with goals like securing tidewater access for Canadian oil and opposing the carbon tax. The convoy, starting February 14th from multiple locations and arriving February 19th (weather permitting), covers 3,800 km with stops in Regina and Thunder Bay, funded transparently via GoFundMe. Carritt rejects accusations of racism or Islamophobia, framing concerns as about national sovereignty and controlled immigration, while criticizing Canada’s reliance on foreign oil like Saudi Arabia. The movement aims to challenge government policies perceived as neglecting Western Canada’s energy interests, emphasizing unity beyond individual groups. [Automatically generated summary]
Canada Action has officially canceled their convoy to Ottawa, but the mission to bring Alberta's concerns to Justin Trudeau's doorstep is far from over.
I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed and you're watching The Gunn Show.
Canada Action has pumped the brakes on their protest convoy to Ottawa.
Now this is from their official press release.
Unfortunately, we have come to the decision that it is no longer viable to proceed with our planned convoy.
We cannot confidently mitigate the unexpected challenges associated with this event.
As such, we will be issuing full refunds to all of our donors.
The Canada Action Convoy, yeah, it's dead.
But the Yellow Vest Convoy, that one's still going ahead.
You see, they've got lots of truckers willing to participate.
They've got lots of cash in the bank to help them get there.
And they have lots of people and supporters.
Now, these two convoys, both scheduled to leave the same day, were often painted as dueling convoys from competing movements.
Canada Action and Rally for Resources have both been pretty anti-Yellow Vest protests from the very beginning, making statements in the media denouncing the Yellow Vest and their convoy efforts and being clear to disassociate Canada Action from the Yellow Vests and their convoys.
The Yellow Vest movement, yeah, it's controversial, but that's what happens when you have an organic, growing movement that doesn't have, for lack of a better word here, a manifesto that defines exactly who they are.
That absence of a manifesto leaves a vacuum where your enemies can fill in the blanks about your motives.
Now, I think I'm one of the few people in all of Canadian media outside of my colleagues who has actually taken the time to wade into the Yellow Vest protest to actually ask them what their concerns are and then allow them to answer in their own words.
Now, this diverse group of people have been referred to as white nationalists, as liars, as xenophobes, and extremists.
Just look at this article here.
Opinion, Yellow Vest Canada are just a high visibility hate group.
Let's hope that those caught up in the lies and misinformation from the Yellow Vests can see through to the truth and come to the realization that we are all of the human race.
Now, whoever wrote this garbage article doesn't even have the guts to put their name to it.
It's simply printed as being written by Bay Today staff.
This Guardian article trotted out a political science professor from the University of Toronto who said of the Yellow Vest, when you scratch the surface, it's very shallow.
It's a vehicle for those who are very conservative and anti-immigrant and who want to use anything they can against the current government.
Speaking of shallow, that's a very shallow assessment of the Yellow Vest's momentum.
They saw their Facebook grow to over 90,000 members in just two short weeks.
It's a pretty shallow assessment of the record-breaking trucking convoys that are being organized all across the prairies, primarily on Yellow Vest Facebook pages.
And it is a pretty shallow assessment of the Yellow Vest issues by someone who's never spoken to them.
Last week, I had my friend Bernard Hancock on the show, and we talked about oil and gas issues.
And he said he didn't like the Yellow Vest, which is, of course, his opinion.
This is a place where my guests get to express their opinions.
And at the time, I told Bernard I'm willing to talk to anybody who's willing to come on my show.
So, this week, I have the main organizer for the Yellow Vest Convoy to Ottawa as my guest.
You'll see me ask him tough questions.
You'll see me ask him about what the mainstream media says about his Yellow Vest convoy and the movement.
And you'll see me ask him to define what the Yellow Vest Convoy to Ottawa is all about.
So joining me tonight in an interview we recorded yesterday is Glenn Carrot of Yellow Vests Canada.
So joining me now is Glenn Carrot.
Now, Glenn, I would describe Glenn as one of the main organizers for the Yellow Vest Convoy to Ottawa.
But the reason I have Glenn on the show today is because I want to give Glenn a chance to define his convoy because I think if Glenn doesn't, the CBC and really the enemies of what Glenn is trying to do will do it for him.
And I don't think they will treat him fairly.
Last week, I had Bernard Hancock on the show.
He's critical of the Yellow Vest movement, but I gave him a chance to say his piece.
And I'll talk to anybody on the show here.
So I wanted to have Glenn on because I do want to treat the Yellow Vest fairly.
I think I've done more talking to them than anybody else in the media.
And so joining me now from Innisvale, am I right, Glenn?
Yeah, that's correct.
Hi.
Hi, Glenn.
Thanks for coming on the show.
Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself before we get into anything else?
Because you really aren't a radical, are you?
You're not the wackadoodle that I think the mainstream media would like to portray many of the people involved in the Yellow Vest movement.
Yeah, no, I certainly am not.
I'm a family man.
I have grandkids.
I've got a small business in Innisfail here with locations in Grand Prairie, Estevan.
I own and operate a safety service company.
You know, I'm definitely not a radical.
I'm a peaceful, loving person.
And, you know, I hope that by the end of all this, that we can really portray that that's the type of people that are just trying to fight for our country.
You know, and I think that's really what it is about.
When I've gone to, I mean, these convoys that are happening all across the province and I guess even into Saskatchewan, they really aren't being organized by the oil industry and the official representatives of the oil industry like Canada Action.
They are being organized on Yellow Vest Facebook pages by just average citizens who've had enough.
Is that your experience?
Not completely.
No.
Okay.
Well, a little both.
You know, Canada Action has done their part in doing rallies and their work has been pretty extensive with that.
And that's actually why, right from the start, I reached out to all these groups to try and combine them so that we could get this one convoy together and work collaboratively and find some common ground that we can move forward with this.
So, yeah, you know, it isn't just the Yellow Vest.
There's been some rallies with some business people.
Sure.
Canada Action for sure.
And a lot by Yellow Vest.
So we just want to be the ones that are open to bringing everybody together.
You know, and I'm so glad to hear you say that because I have seen people, and I would say even people who present themselves as official representatives of the pro-oil movement attack the yellow vest.
And I'm very glad to hear you say that you're not doing the same.
That you know, you do see that you have common goals.
And like you said, you're fighting for Canada.
So I'm very glad to see.
I think the word I would use is you're somewhat ecumenical with the other side who have sort of done their best to what's the right word here, discredit what you're trying to do.
You really did want to work with Canada Action and bring the two convoys together.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And again, we've never been the biased ones that, you know, we've said you don't have to wear the yellow vest, just get behind the movement.
We're making this, the convoy's idea was so that we can make some noise and get people behind us so that Ottawa would wake up.
We all, all of us looked at the convoys in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and BC and said, man, you know, everybody's banding together and doing great.
And it wasn't like it was my original idea that we said, hey, we should take it to Ottawa, but I jumped on board and I'm a take the bull by the horns kind of guy and we moved forward.
Like I, you know, we can't keep talking about it.
We got to keep going.
And, you know, and at the end of the day, and Bernard's, I did watch your clip on Bernard.
And you know what?
We stand behind everything, everything that Bernard said.
He's 100% right.
We have to get our product to Tidewater.
We have to get Canada, the rest of Canada using our product.
We have to change the image of our product.
And we've got to stop spending money on foreign oil.
And at the end of the day, there's very little difference between the two groups.
And again, I wish we could have just found common ground so that we could have moved forward.
But the carbon tax is, of course, another issue with ours.
And Canada's identity is an issue with Yellow Vest.
So at the end of the day, we're very common goals with the oil and gas industry and the bad rap that it's got that undeservedly.
So it is unfortunate that we couldn't move forward together.
And I hope they continue with their good work of spreading the news of oil and gas and that it is a good, viable energy sector for our whole country.
It's so important.
You know, I do agree with you.
I believe that the issue of not having tidewater access for our oil and gas and the fact that there's such foreign influence on environmental issues in Canada are part of, I think, the broader tent of yellow vest issues.
I think it is all about national sovereignty, that a country should be making decisions for itself in the best interest of the country.
And so I understand how the issue of foreign influence and environmental issues blocking pipelines falls right into migration issues and aversion to the United Nations.
It's all part of the same issue, and that's about national sovereignty, really.
Yeah, exactly.
And I mean, you listen to the states, they're concerned about how our identity is going.
And, you know, we have forefathers.
My father migrated from Iowa, you know, from the Rainy Creek area in Bentley.
And, you know, those are our forefathers and our grandfathers.
And they took on Canada.
They became Canadians and they took on what it meant to be a Canadian.
And that's what we really need to be careful that we don't lose that identity.
We are not against immigration, but not in the least, but let's just make sure it's controlled and that we, you know, that we don't have people coming illegally that aren't that are criminals and that shouldn't be in the country.
And just control it, you know, that because we've got to watch our identity.
We're Canadians and we need to stay Canadians.
Now, I wanted to ask you some questions about the convoy.
The convoy organized by your group, it's still going forward, is it not?
Oh, 100%.
Yeah, we've been forging forward.
We've been, you know, again, reaching out to all the groups.
We still, you know, if any group, we still say yellow vest or not yellow vest, get behind it.
You know, we just want to band together and make this a big rally and a big show for Ottawa.
That it's not just Western Canada, it's all of Canada that's upset with the current government.
So, you know, it doesn't matter if you want to have the yellow vest around your back, but just get behind the movement.
That's, you know, there's various different ways to be, you know, I can use a sports analogy.
If, you know, you can be a Toronto Blue Jay fan, you can, right, various different ways.
You've got the players on the field, the bad boys, and then you've got people in the stands that are fans, and you've got people at home that are fans.
You know, they don't all wear the jersey, the Toronto Blue Jays jersey, but they're all behind it.
And that's what we need is for Canada to get behind what we're doing.
And what we're doing is fighting for your rights and for the things that just aren't right in the government today.
So, you know, look at our motto and get behind the movement.
You know, I think that's one thing.
Some of the rhetoric that bothered me from some of the more fringe elements of the movement was, you know, this anti-Quebec sentiment.
And don't get me wrong, I'm one of the largest, loudest critics of Quebec politicians and the Quebec government.
But I would suggest that probably the people of Quebec, much like the people of Ontario now, they're very supportive of our oil and gas industry.
The problem is the politicians.
You know, once the politicians change, the people's voices can truly be heard.
Just look at Ontario.
Government Listening?00:09:25
Ontario had one of the governments that was the most against pipelines in the entire country under Kathleen Wynne.
Very anti-oil and gas development.
All it took was one election for the true voice of the people to be heard.
And now Doug Ford has passed a motion that says that he will never stand in the way of pipeline development and blocking our access to the rest of the country.
So I'm glad to hear you say that, you know, there are other ways for Canadians to support you without participating in the convoy because I really truly believe this is a Canadian issue.
And I truly believe that most good common sense Canadians, no matter what political ideology they are, do support prosperity for the country.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, you know, again, we go back to the energy sector, how important it is for Canada and for our way of life.
And, you know, for Quebec to say that they don't have an appetite for pipelines, well, is your appetite better fed by supporting foreign oil in countries like Saudi Arabia that don't have very good human rights?
I mean, there was a girl on the news this morning.
I'm sorry, I can't remember the name, but came over from Saudi Arabia because of all the abuse that's going on over there and she was scared for her life.
Is that what they would rather support, or would they rather support their own country and have our energy sector go throughout the whole country and we can prosper by having this?
You know, that's one really great point.
And I don't think the liberals are capable of making the connection there, that we have this young woman who has immigrated to Canada because she feared for her life in Saudi Arabia, and yet the Liberals cannot connect the human rights abuses to Canada actually supporting those human rights abuses by 40% of the oil in the Irving Oil Refinery coming in on a tanker ship from Saudi Arabia.
We are enriching the regime that oppresses young women like that, and yet we have a government that calls itself a feminist government.
Exactly.
$50 million a day in foreign oil.
And, you know, they might portray that, oh, we wouldn't want that young girl to come to Canada.
That is so absolutely false that, I mean, good for her.
I mean, what a strong, strong lady to come.
And Canada needs to open their arms to that.
But they need to go through the proper process to make sure that she's taken care of and that the proper people are coming to this country and get rid of the criminals that aren't supposed to be coming to this country.
So it's a wonderful story.
I can't imagine what she's been going through.
And exactly, why should we support that type of regime by buying their oil when we have our own resource here?
What people need to do is replace the word oil with any other product.
Just think of it as shoes or a t-shirt.
And you have this huge amount of a product that you're trying to get to Canada to the rest of your own country.
It would be silly to even think that it wouldn't go that way.
So why wouldn't you buy your own product?
Yeah, I mean, if we did replace oil with maple syrup or Toyotas, I mean, there would be outrage and the government would act.
But instead, I think there is still an anti-Western sentiment that exists in the Liberal Party of Canada.
Yeah, absolutely.
And it goes back to the brainwashing of protesters that come up here and complain about our environmental standards, et cetera, because they do that because they can, right?
Because we're a free country and they get sent up here.
They try and send those protesters to Saudi Arabia or Venezuela and any other country.
They wouldn't be accepted.
And so they come here and protest.
And yet we have some of the highest environmental standards in the world, the highest technology in the world.
The U.S. has taken some of our technology for some of their fractional drilling.
That's why they're finally able to sustain their own oil reserves is because of Canadian technology.
And it's innovative.
And in order for our world to move forward in any kind of way, whether in 10 or 20 years or 50 years, if we do move away from oil and gas, that technology is going to come from the oil and gas industry because that's where innovation starts.
You know, that is a fantastic point.
There will be no innovation into renewables without the help and cheap, affordable, reliable energy from our old friend fossil fuels.
I wanted to dispel some myths or give you a chance to answer to some of the allegations that we commonly hear, especially in the media, about the yellow vest.
We've heard Bob Ray, former NDP, now liberal Bob Ray, compare the yellow vest movement to the brown shirts.
What do you have to say in response to that?
Well, first of all, brown shirts are.
So, Sorry.
But I encourage anybody to come to any rally and see that we're that's not who we are.
We're peaceful.
These rallies, every single rally that I've been to, and I've been to quite a few, and they're peaceful.
It's not the yellow vest people that are stepping out and being radical.
It's people that have maybe come out of that, maybe were at one point associated with the yellow vest.
But that's not who we want in this group.
There is no way that's who we want in this group.
We're peaceful, hardworking Canadians that are just tired of not being listened to.
Now, I've also seen insinuations that the yellow vests are Islamophobic or racist.
Now, I've come across quite a few people of color when I am talking to the yellow vest people.
My colleague Kian Becksy in Calgary came across a very energetic Chinese lady who was yelling about Trudeau.
What do you have to say to people who say that you're just basically white supremacists?
Well, that is absolutely ridiculous, of course, because yes, we have all races in our group.
And, you know, the fear isn't about any one type of group per se, but it's about losing Canada's identity.
That's what it's all about.
We have to maintain our identity.
And the only way to do that is to have some sort of control, whatever that control is.
You know, all I'm saying is let's revisit it.
This just isn't, this isn't working the way it's moving forward right now.
But there's all kinds of races in our movement, and we are not prejudiced people, and we are being portrayed as that and racist, but we are not.
I think you're being portrayed as that by people who have never bothered to talk to you, who've never actually seen a yellow vest protest, who've never been to a yellow vest convoy.
I've even seen people say that the yellow vests are anti-women.
And when I go to these yellow vest protests, I see lots of female truckers and a lot of chivalry.
There are people tripping over themselves to carry my camera equipment.
What do you have to say to allegations that the yellow vests are somehow anti-women?
Oh, again, absolutely ludicrous to think that, you know, you're right.
We're hardworking Canadians that want to band together.
And there just isn't a prejudice there.
And you made a good point: it's all the people that aren't coming out to these rallies that are painting a brush because they see it in France.
And you know what?
It saddens me to see what's happened to France for sure.
But it didn't start that way.
It didn't start as a radical movement.
But let's ask ourselves, and not that I'm saying that it's okay by any stretch of the imagination to have violence or anything like that.
I would never ever say we want to be peaceful.
But why doesn't the government listen before it gets to that in France?
We're not going to be like that in Canada by any stretch.
We're going to be peaceful.
But why isn't the government listening?
You know, that's a great question.
Why isn't the government listening?
I often ask people at these protests that do you think the government is listening to you?
Because I think if this were auto workers or nurses or government bureaucrats who were protesting in this way, week after week in big cities and small towns in the cold, over and over and over again, I think that the government would be brought to its knees.
But I just don't think the government is listening to you.
Well, they aren't out here.
You know, we've, I mean, it started with Pierre Trudeau that they never listened to us out here.
We're Albertans.
We never had a vote.
It's been going on and on and on for years, and not just Albertans.
I don't mean to paint that brush by any means, but Western Canada, by the time it gets out here, the vote's done.
Details of the Convoy00:03:42
And now it's continued with Justin.
And this is what spearheaded the whole let's get to Ottawa because they need to start listening.
We can pound our feet, so to speak, out here all we want, but he doesn't care because it's out in Alberta.
He's already stated that he wants to phase out the OSAN.
So let's let them just go off in the dust.
But that's why that's not going to happen anymore.
We're moving forward.
So, Glenn, I guess now is a good time to ask you about some of the details of the convoy.
When is it?
How can people, if they are so inclined to get involved, and how can they, if they can't get involved, support what you're doing?
Yeah, absolutely.
So, we're starting February 14th.
And, you know, we originally slated for February 15th.
That's why there's some confusion.
And the head organizer of the Canada Winter Games reached out to me and said, Glenn, we've got a bit of an issue.
And I said, no problem.
We'll work through it.
And I thought we could work through that day.
And at the end of the day, she said, it would be really good if you could move it.
And I said, absolutely.
So we moved the day.
So we're heading out February 14th.
We're going to go to the Regina the first night.
And I'm going to tell you that it's my goal today to get all these towns nailed down.
And that's a surprise so far.
But yeah.
And then, so we're going to be landing in Ottawa on the 19th, weather permitting, of course.
We've got a day contingency there.
It's a long haul, though.
We've got to get out there.
And we've got all the logistics with Ron Barrs from the Greater Ontario Truckers Association.
And he's been helping us in Ontario and Bonnie and different people to make sure that we've got all the logistics in Ottawa taken care of, right down to, they said, the first aid people to porta potties to having a place to eat and everything.
So it's and it's a registered protest.
You know, we're taking care of the details so that because we're law-abiding, peaceful citizens.
That's the bottom line.
We're doing this right.
So how can people get more information as it develops?
Like, where are you starting?
What time are you leaving?
And where can they find those other cities and towns once you get them nailed down?
Yeah, we'll be posting the whole route online.
They can go to Yellow Vest Official Convoy to Ottawa, and the official is in brackets for any updates.
And there's a GoFundMe page because you can well imagine that this is going to be not a cheap feat.
We're trying to get fuel for all the guys and everything.
And so we've got some major players on board.
Paderney's just got a hold of me today and said they're sending a truck.
So, you know, we've got Husky involved.
We've got some pretty major players going.
So they'll follow along and we'll have it posted at what towns we're stopping at.
Regina's already started.
They were chomping at the bit today to, Glenn, when are we going to be here?
So I reached out to those guys and told them we'll be there on the 14th.
And then where it goes from there is somewhere between there and Thunder Bay.
And then we've got to keep track.
We got about 1,000 kilometers a day.
It's a 3,900, 3,800 kilometer track.
Just driving a car is one thing, but now you've got however many trucks we're going to have, 1,000 trucks or 2,000 or however many we got.
And how are you keeping track of that GoFundMe?
Is there going to be a transparent accounting for people who are not necessarily a little skeptical, but who just want to make sure that everything is on the up and up?
Transparency In The Convoy00:02:42
Not to say that you're not, but I think the best way is always transparency.
100%.
I've actually hired a chartered accountant to take care of the GoFundMe page, and it's all going to be ledgered and 100% above board.
Anybody that wants to, it'll be like a public book as far as budget or whatever is concerned.
Anybody that wants to stop here and have a look at it or have that information sent to them, 100%.
Anybody that needs that information is perfectly welcome to it.
Glenn, can you give us that, it was a Facebook page, right?
That's where the main organizing is happening.
Yeah, you bet.
So it's Yellow Vest Official Convoy to Ottawa, and the official is in brackets.
Okay, great.
I just don't want any confusion.
I want people to be sure that they're supporting the right group again if they're so inclined.
Glenn, I want to thank you for taking the time to come on the show today.
I want to thank you for your honesty.
I want to thank you for your less than bitter attitude with people who are out there saying some pretty terrible things about you.
And I think it really speaks to the quality of you as an individual that you're not vindictive about any of this and you're just carrying on because I think the issues are bigger than you.
So hopefully as things get closer, we can check back in with you.
Sounds good, Sheila.
I appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
Thanks, Glenn.
Have a great day.
So now you've heard it for your own ears.
You've heard Glenn define the Yellow Vest Convoy.
You know what he stands for now and what he hopes to achieve.
You don't have to take the word of the mainstream media or second and third party amateur analysis of what his Yellow Vest Convoy stands for.
You heard it straight out of the horse's mouth.
And now you can judge for yourself.
Now, despite all that's been said about Glenn Carrot, the man doesn't seem to have an ounce of animosity directed at people who call him names he says that he's not.
I think that's pretty telling about Glenn, don't you?
And I think that Glenn has more in common with his detractors than his detractors would like to admit.
The movement to defend Canada's oil and gas sector is bigger than one man, one organization, or even one group.
Well, everybody, that's the show for tonight.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
I'll see everybody back here in the same time in the same place next week.