Protesters focus on 2 issues at rally outside prime minister’s Calgary event

A group of protesters filled a downtown Calgary street to voice their concerns to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, while he was making an appearance at an event in the city.

The majority of the protesters spoke out against recent federal action in the ongoing Canada Post workers’ strike, as well as Canada’s inability to get its oil to tidewater. The rally took place outside a downtown hotel, while Trudeau was speaking inside at an event with the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.

“We’re all supporting the public sector,” Cindy Wagner, a postal clerk at Calgary’s Canada Post processing plant, said Thursday at the rally.

“We’re two different forms, but we’re two forms that are wanting to be heard.”

The rally was held just hours after the federal government introduced back-to-work legislation, in an effort to end the rotating postal strikes that have been in place since late October. Members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), which represents Canada Post employees, have condemned the move.

“We have got a constitutional right to collective bargain and we think that right needs to be recognized by the government of Canada,” Robert Scobel, a Calgary-based CUPW spokesperson, said at Thursday’s rally.

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“We’ve been going on rotating strikes, we haven’t shut the system down, we’ve simply slowed it up, we don’t think it justifies actions by the parliament.”

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Watch below: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was booed as he took the podium at an event in Calgary, which is dealing with plummeting oil prices.

0:26 Justin Trudeau booed as he takes podium at Calgary event

On the other side of the rally, pro-pipeline protesters broke out in numerous chants of “build that pipe.” Katrina Ali, an energy sector employee who attended the rally, said she had a simple message for the visiting prime minister.

“Trudeau, for the benefit of all Canadians, we need to build pipelines so we can get our oil and gas to market, to tidewater,” Ali said.

“Hopefully the message is sent.”

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Watch below: On Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the question of Bill C-69 while talking to Calgary’s Chamber of Commerce.

4:17 Trudeau talks about Bill C-69 to Alberta’s Chamber of Commerce