Medicine Hat MP says blocking the border doesn’t help anybody

Feb 3, 2022 | 1:48 PM

OTTAWA — Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner MP Glen Motz says he defends the right of people to protest.

“I respect that, I support that,” says Motz.

But he does not agree with blocking access to the southern Alberta border at Coutts.

“I do not support and will not support any activities that are not lawful or are not peaceful,” said Motz.

He says “blocking the border was not something I anticipated, I was hopeful that wouldn’t happen and when it did I spoke out against it.”

The protest at the border is in his federal riding and Motz says he spoke with the organizers on Tuesday night.

The MP says it’s unfortunate that “those sort of actions cause people who might believe in a cause to start losing favour and the message gets lost.”

Motz says almost half of Alberta’s gross domestic product involves cross-border trucking, so it isn’t helping anybody to block the border

by Brian Konrad