As vehicles pulled into a meeting spot on the side of the highway south of Lethbridge, Alta., it was clear that this year’s convoy protest gathering would be different. As people gathered to mark its one-year anniversary, they were greeted by two RCMP vehicles at the side of the road.
There was no missing the police vehicles scattered along the highway and the helicopter in the air, or the message: The event would be permitted, a large-scale disruption would not.
One year ago, Alberta RCMP had sent out a fairly innocuous media advisory warning of heavy congestion and slow-moving traffic near the border crossing at Coutts, Alta.
