Outside Salmon Arm City Hall on Jan. 5, a group of protestors wearing the now-familiar yellow vests associated with European anti-government protests were airing their frustrations with issues of immigration, taxation and border security.
Beginning in France in 2018 as a grass-roots political movement, the yellow vest protests have come to symbolize frustration with rising fuel prices, high cost of living and claims that government tax reforms put a large burden on the working and middle classes. Globally, the protests have started to crop up in rural areas and small cities with a fairly high frequency, and in Canada they are often associated with frustration at Justin Trudeau and the federal Liberal government, the carbon tax and government spending.
This is not the first time the yellow vest protests have been seen in Salmon Arm, with at least one smaller group holding signs by the Trans-Canada Highway near dontown Salmon Arm earlier in the winter.
Elsewhere in the region, the courthouse in Vernon was the site of a larger yellow vest rally earlier in December, largely focusing on issues of immigration and increased taxation.
