People wonder why I'm personally invested in following the convoy drama. A big reason is I started off reporting on some of them during covid while stringing for the Smoky River Express, covering High Prairie to Peace River. Freedom George is from High Prairie. A local. Bob Blayone, another fixture on the Alberta anti-vaxx scene, is from Peace River. My longtime hometown now. I had to cover his failed attempts to decide the fate of our airport, which morphed into anti-mandate rallies, a failed run for council, & the "freedom" movement.

So today Grande Prairie's angriest son Elliot "Moose" McDavid & his cronies were supposed to storm council again with their concerns about 15 minute cities after finally figuring out how to get added to the agenda and speak. As you can see from this video McDavid posted to Meta, they had hundreds of upset people out to a pre-meeting - but oddly there's no word yet how many attended GP County Council's meeting today at 10 am. m.facebook.com/story.php?stor…

Nancy O'Neill of Peace River was sentenced today for the two counts of assault she was found guilty of Jan. 30. Judge Thietke granted her conditional discharge. O'Neill will be on probation for a year & must complete parenting courses & community service. O'Neill showed up in court today with a red handprint painted on her mouth. She is not indigenous. She is married to an indigenous man & has been living on reserve. She had put cards with an image of herself with the same paint on local cars.

Infamous Freeland harasser Elliot McDavid livestreamed from the #convoy through Dawson Creek back to Grande Prairie today. He plans to storm the GP County meeting again Monday to stop them from turning it into a 15 min city. RCMP will be there. Elliot & convoy friends make it clear they believe Canadian elections have been rigged for years, and they will "displace" the "tyrants" in charge. #convoywatch

Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland's Grande Prairie harasser Elliot McDavid has a Valentine's Day message for you as he drives (distracted) to Winnipeg to join the rest of the #convoy . He's going to fight "the degenerates." #dogwhistle He lays out a plan to "take back small towns" and instill "moral" councillors with his values. He "protested" families going to drag story time at the Grande Prairie Library a few days ago so we know exactly what those values look like. #grandeprairie

Send a letter & support funding drag story time in Grande Prairie! City council has been getting hate mail about it: actionnetwork.org/letters/pcpa-t… Please note this form letter can't be edited as we didn't want it to be co-opted for more hate, but you can tell your story or expand on this if/when you get replies from Mayor and Council. Thanks for your help! #dragstorytime

Bob Blayone only got 225 votes in Brooks-Medicine Hat, but the fringe Alberta independence candidate is still recruiting & fundraising. He's on a tour with hate preacher Artur Pawlowski. They were in Peace River - Bob's hometown & mine too - last night. 1/ You can find the full speeches from the tour events so far on Artur's Facebook if you can stomach it, but I'm going to make a thread of clips I found most disturbing, plus some context. 2/ fb.watch/gPE7Ct3-Tu/

On @jkenney and his comments re HIV/AIDS. A short thread. This is my husband Doug’s late uncle, Vance Serbin. Vance was an artist and one of the only people in the family that adopted my husband at age 4 who he felt truly understood his creative bent. /1 Vance was a talented artist and graphic designer. He drew ads for Eatons. Here is part of his Harlequin series. /2

Here’s a glimpse at how police are negotiating with protestors blocking the border near Coutts, Alberta, from the video of a protestor in the room with them. No one is masked. The cops’ goal is to allow the protest but allow border traffic/commerce. Police admit the blockade caught them off guard. I’m not sure why when they printed posters and posted to social media.

Here’s the perspective on the convoy from Chris from Alberta’s Whistlestop Cafe. He wants basic support like food for the protestors he says have been “abandoned” on the parkway and is asking people email him to volunteer to coordinate logistics. #littlelate I don’t have the patience to sit through these two talking but here he is meeting with my MLA Todd Loewen.

Ok a bit more on the Alberta Unity Project event. Chris Scott from the Whistle Stop Cafe kicks off his speech with some unintentional comedy gold. Someone at this event to plan making Alberta into a sovereign country yells “You’re a patriot.” Scott explains he stayed open despite covid restrictions to save his restaurant & because he didn’t see people “dying in the streets.” He says he got so much support his restaurant fed 3000 people.

Chris Scott from the Whistle Stop Cafe spoke at this packed unmasked “Alberta Unity Project” event in Grande Prairie this weekend where they discussed Alberta becoming its own country. It was live-streamed on the cafe’s FB page. #covidab #gp They had a bus to the event. Because why not share confined spaces for hours during the explosion of new cases of “the flu.”

CEO of CanWest Air Jake Fehr’s daughter Janelle Fehr passed away on May 3. Her obituary read at her funeral at La Crete Christian Fellowship Church yesterday says she travelled to Cancun and Belize w/her family this year before becoming sick w/pneumonia. Janelle was described as “an inspiration and joy.” She had Down’s syndrome and heart problems that had required surgeries. Sources say the funeral was well attended; some estimate 200+. Full YouTube video of the funeral service: