The short stretch of Highway 108 from Elliot Lake south to the intersection of the Trans Canada Highway will be the venue for a group of local residents who plan to greet Canada's Human Freedom Chain as it's scheduled to pass along the highway south of Elliot Lake on Saturday afternoon.
Blain McElrea is the Elliot Lake man who organized last month's motorcade through city streets in support of the goals of the Ottawa truckers convoy.
Once again people in vehicles is the approach he's using to demonstrate local support, this time for the Freedom Chain.
McElrea says the Trans Canada Human Freedom Chain was planned first and the local response followed. It was on its way with or without any local support.
The convoy portion is only local from Elliot Lake to the turnoff and back.
"I volunteered to do my part locally and agreed to be the contact for the OPP," McElrea explained.
The plan is for participants to gather as a group in their vehicles in the parking area behind the Oakland Plaza, near the road to the ski hill on Saturday at 11:30 a.m., then head south together on nearby Highway 108.
No registration is required.
The convoy plans to arrive at the Trans Canada Highway (Highway 17)/ Highway 108 junction by 12:30 p.m. in time to greet the Freedom Chain as it motors along the Trans Canada.
McElrea said the goal of the Saturday event is the same as the Elliot Lake trucker's convoy support run he organized on Feb. 19, for, "The restoration of Canadian rights and freedoms on a permanent basis."
"We want no mandates, because discrimination is political and not medical," he said. "All the restrictions are political. The mask, social distancing, locking up healthy people, have no basis in science."
McElrea asserted the narrative of forces opposed to the ideals of the trucker's convoy is, "100 per cent political control."
He added, "The mask is the stage prop for COVID theatre."
"The deaths, suicides, overdoses, and business loss are all due to the restrictions and not the virus," McElrea concluded.