WATCH: A recent decision by Tim Hortons to pull Enbridge ads have led to protests at the popular coffee shop chain. Gary Bobrovitz reports.
CALGARY- About 15 people turned up at a downtown Tim Hortons restaurant on Friday to protest the coffee chain’s decision to pull an advertisement.
On Thursday, the company took to Twitter to announce it was pulling its advertising for Enbridge from its in-store television screens after 28,000 people signed a petition objecting to the advertising.
On Friday, demonstrators at a Beltline Tim Hortons stood outside for a counter-protest and called for coffee drinkers to boycott the chain.
“We’re trying to tell them (Tim Hortons) that we’re not impressed with the fact they’ve pulled the ads from Enbridge,” said protest organizer Caitlyn Madlener. “We’d like them to apologize to Enbridge and we’d like them to come out and maybe run the ads again.”
Former Sun News Network personality Ezra Levant is also helping to organize the boycott effort.
The contentious ads are about Enbridge’s plan to build the Northern Gateway Pipeline from to transport oilsands bitumen from Alberta to the west coast of British Columbia. The ads had been running for aobut three weeks when Tim Hortons yanked them from its restaurants.
Oilsands supporters were quick to voice their opposition to the move and soon the hashtag #Boycott Time began trending across Canada.
The move by Tim’s has been criticized by a number of provincial and federal politicians. Wildrose party leader Brian Jean says he is not going to drink coffee from the chain and wants the company to apologize for taking shots at the oil and gas industry. Federal Defence Minister Jason Kenney and Calgary MP Joan Crockatt have also expressed support of the Tim Hortons boycott.
In an email to Global News, Enbridge spokesperson Graham White said the company “enjoyed working with Tim Hortons and respects their decision.”
Tim Hortons has not responded to requests for comment from Global News.
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