Grande Prairie, Alta. – Cory Yeik attended the Grande Prairie rally on Dec. 16. Idled from oilpatch work for much of the last three years, he just recently went back to work, near Grande Prairie. He also owns a clothing company fittingly called Rig Pig Apparel, catering to the drilling industry.
Yeik was “born and bred” in Weyburn, and now calls Lethbridge, Alta., home. Speaking to Pipeline News by phone on Dec. 17, he said, “After working 25 years in the industry, three years ago I could see this coming. It’s like the perfect storm. Everybody hoped it would get better,but here we are.
“We’ve got nothing to lose.”
He added, “It’s finally really good to see everybody starting to see the trickle-down effect in a country that got a large part of its economy from natural resources. Everyone is affected, from the top down.”
“It’s nice to see everyone standing together.”
Asked where he was, Yeik said, “I was in the convoy. I’ve got good friends that own trucks.”
It took an hour for the convoy to go around the city. It was so long, “The convoy touched its tail.”
In all his time working in the oilpatch, he said he had never seen anything like it.
“It really tugged at my heart really hard,” he said, noting he shot several videos, posted on Facebook, about the "phenomenal amount of trucks."
“These rallies need to continue."
Yeik is not the type to frequent protests. He said, “That was my very first protest.”
The downturn and the policies of the federal Liberal government have hurt his own company and livelihood. “There’s not much left in the tank,” he said.
“I can understand, but I’ve never seen anyone hated as much as Trudeau,” he said of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Regarding the rally, he said, “I’m very vocal. I was at a loss for words.”
