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Internal correspondence from the RCMP demanded immediate action weeks before the carbon tax protest was put down.
During a months-long carbon price protest along the Trans-Canada Highway west of Calgary, emails obtained by CTV News reveal that the RCMP in Cochrane is demanding action and urgent meetings with Alberta's transportation minister.
"We have a developing situation at the Protest Site at Cochrane today," Cochrane RCMP Sgt. Matt Pumphrey said in an email sent on September 20 to a number of provincial government employees, including the head of emergency management for the transportation ministry.
The sergeant wrote, "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," requesting an immediate conversation about the issue.
A Freedom of Information request was used to get the emails exchanged between the province and the RCMP. The During a months-long carbon price protest along the Trans-Canada Highway west of Calgary, emails obtained by CTV News reveal that the RCMP in Cochrane is demanding action and urgent meetings with Alberta's transportation minister.
"We have a developing situation at the Protest Site at Cochrane today," Cochrane RCMP Sgt. Matt Pumphrey said in an email sent on September 20 to a number of provincial government employees, including the head of emergency management for the transportation ministry.
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The sergeant wrote, "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," requesting an immediate conversation about the issue.
A Freedom of Information request was used to get the emails exchanged between the province and the RCMP.
The whole written answer from the province to Pumphrey's email has been censored.
Protesters against the carbon tax are still active west of Calgary.
"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 stated on Wednesday.
"In the end, one group arrived while the other did not. We were sort of expecting three distinct protest groups to show up simultaneously, but it never happened.
In April, hundreds of people gathered to protest the federal carbon price along the highway close to Cochrane.
Demonstrators parked RVs, honked horns, and waved placards and flags at the They promised to remain until the carbon tax was eliminated.
An organizer told CTV News that the group's departure in October was caused by the impending cold and a sense of being ignored.
With uniformed cops watching and positioned between the demonstrators and the highway traffic, the RCMP's response during the first week was noteworthy.
Officers became less noticeable as the gathering dispersed.
For a while, we were passing by every day in both marked and unmarked police vehicles to ensure that the location would remain secure for demonstrators should they choose to do so. People have that legal right," Pumphrey stated.
Regarding inquiries concerning his September, he claims that the province cooperated and kept in touch with them on a regular basis.
The sergeant claimed that since the demonstrators departed on their own, there was never a request for the RCMP to forcibly remove them.
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The transportation minister for Alberta, Devin Dreeshen, stated that the police are in charge of enforcement but that he was unaware of the specific emails sent by the RCMP to government officials.
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"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 stated.
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