END IMPASSE, PREMIERS SAY

‘WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE IS ANARCHY’

Agrowing chorus of premiers is calling for the federal government to put a swift end to railway blockades across the country, as layoffs begin to mount and fears of supply shortages grow.

On Wednesday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney described the situation as “anarchy” while his Quebec counterpart, François Legault, demanded the prime minister issue an ultimatum to the protesters before considering sending in police.

The Liberal government is so far rejecting those calls, refusing to put a deadline on ending the impasse and focusing on dialogue with Indigenous groups.

The Council of the Federation, a group composed of all of Canada’s premiers, held a conference call Wednesday to discuss the problem.

“The premiers are calling for a meeting with the prime minister tomorrow via teleconference to discuss paths to a peaceful resolution and an end to the illegal blockades,” said Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, the group’s chair.

Earlier, Kenney said Justin Trudeau has been missing in action.

“I am perplexed by the lack of national leadership,” he said. “What is happening here is anarchy. Extended illegal protests contrary to the orders of the courts that are shutting down large parts of the national economy.”

Kenney said the protests are having real economic impacts and need to come to an end.

“To allow things like this to go on for weeks, I think, creates a licence for illegal protests and only emboldens those who are thumbing their nose at the rule of law.”

Manitoba’s Brian Pallister said protesters have a right to be heard but not to “keep protesting when it doesn’t go your way.”

The Quebec premier told newspaper Le Devoir he wants Trudeau to set a firm deadline, a matter of days not weeks, to bring an end to the dispute, and, if it’s not respected, co-ordinated police action could be necessary to restore transportation links and end blockades.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said the government is focused on finding a peaceful solution to the issue and a deadline would impede that.

“I am reluctant to put a deadline to something, because I find that’s not a very effective means of negotiation,” he said.

Via Rail, which has managed to restore service on some of its routes in Quebec and southwestern Ontario, announced Wednesday it would lay off nearly 1,000 people on a temporary basis until full service is restored.

A wide-array of business groups have also warned the ongoing blockades risk leading to supply shortages of vital materials like propane and chlorine for water treatment.

In the House of Commons during question period, Conservatives called for Trudeau to send in police and clear the blockades, an approach he rejected.

“We know that an overly aggressive approach like the one proposed by the leader of the opposition will only lead to more challenges down the road,” said Trudeau.

Trudeau said he knows this situation must end, but it has to happen without violence.

“This situation is unacceptable and the fact that it is hitting Canadians so hard — facing layoffs and facing shortages — that is why we are doing everything we can to resolve this peacefully.”

The railway blockades are in support of protests on Wet’suwet’en territory in northern British Columbia. The protests there are led by hereditary chiefs and targeted against the Coastal Gaslink pipeline. All of the elected band council chiefs in the area support the project.

The government has reached out to the hereditary chiefs and Crown-indigenous Relations minister Carolyn Bennett has offered to meet with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who oppose the pipeline.

Bennett released a letter Wednesday renewing that offer to meet, co-signed by British Columbia’s Minister of Indigenous Relations. The letter said she is prepared to meet as early as Thursday and was willing to come to them.

But in a sign that matters won’t be resolved quickly, a Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief says the chiefs won’t meet with the federal government until both the RCMP and Coastal Gaslink leave their traditional territory.

Na’moks, who also goes by John Ridsdale, said Wednesday the chiefs have communicated their terms to Bennett.

Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said he is in regular contact with Mohawk protesters in Tyendinaga, Ont., the site of a key railway blockade, attempting to keep the peace and work toward a solution.

“We need to be able to look at ourselves in the mirror, particularly as regards our relation with Indigenous peoples,” he said. “There is no question that the economy is hurting and Canadians are hurting. There are layoffs and then perhaps even more to come if action is not taken in short order.”