CENTRE WELLINGTON – If horn honking means freedom, participants in the “Freedom Convoy” that rolled through Fergus and Elora on Saturday afternoon certainly exercised theirs.
About 100 trucks, cars and at least one bus sporting Canadian flags, signs and with horns blaring, drove down Highway 6, along Wellington Road 18, and up Geddes Street under the banner Freedom Convoy 2022 North Perth and Surrounding Areas.
“Our goal is to unite Canadians,” said Cody Holdforth in a phone interview on March 4.
He and his brother Connor organized the convoy, which started at noon on March 5 in Listowel and went through Palmerston and Arthur before coming to Centre Wellington.
From here it was heading to Elmira and was expected to wrap up in Waterloo, where it was to meet up with another convoy for a demonstration outside Waterloo town square.
Holdforth said he’s aware vaccine passports are no longer required in Ontario, that capacity restrictions in indoor venues have been lifted and that the mask mandate is expected to be lifted by the end of the month.
Still, “We’re standing up for our beliefs and rights,” he said. “Freedom of speech, and freedom of choice over our bodies.
“We want to support the truckers in Ottawa. We’re against corruption of government and the police brutality against the truckers in Ottawa.”
Holdforth said most convoy participants, but not all, would be flying Canadian flags.
So it was hard to get an accurate count of vehicles as the convoy merged with other traffic and other traffic merged with it.
But the convoy arrived in Fergus around 2pm and it took about half an hour for it to pass Walmart in north Fergus from first to last vehicle. And by 3pm it was seen leaving Elora.
One family in Fergus that appeared to support the convoy – they waved and cheered as the convoy passed them – refused to speak to the Advertiser.
And while the Advertiser was not everywhere along the route, these were the only supporters the Advertiser observed.
