A MAJORITY OF CANADIANS BELIEVE THAT CRIPPLING RAIL BLOCKADES IN THE COUNTRY ARE NOT JUSTIFIED AND SUPPORT POLICE INTERVENTION, ACCORDING TO A NEW POLL.
Majority don’t think protests are justified
A majority of Canadians believe crippling rail blockades in the country are not justified and support police intervention, according to a new poll.
The majority view appears to reflect Conservative thinking with Andrew Scheer in question period on Wednesday deploying the same language that got him banned from a meeting with the prime minister.
“These radical activists have erected these blockades because they want to shut down our resource centre,” said the Conservative leader. “The prime minister is showing incredible weakness by refusing to do anything about this.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded by decrying “rhetorical games” and “short-term politics.” Scheer was the only opposition leader not invited to a meeting Tuesday after Trudeau said his comments on the blockades were “disqualifying.”
After the meeting, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh called Scheer’s comments racist and Green Party leader Elizabeth May said she agreed with the decision to snub the Conservative leader.
However, an Ipsos Canada poll revealed that a majority of Canadians want tougher action against the protesters.
The poll conducted over the weekend found that 61 per cent of Canadians don’t think the blockades are justified. In Alberta, 76 per cent of people are inclined to think the protests are not justified with British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba reflecting a similar but slightly lower number. In Ontario and Quebec just over half the people in those provinces believe they are not justified.
And while 53 per cent of Canadians — and 69 per cent of Albertans — support police intervention, that number drops to 42 per cent in Quebec and 48 per cent in Ontario.
Despite these views, Canadians are increasingly demanding support for Indigenous people. Seventyfive per cent of people in the country believe the government must act now to helps raise the quality of life for Aboriginal people in the country, up from 63 per cent in 2013.
The Conservatives have not relented in their calls for police action against the blockades. As MPS filed into their caucus meeting on Wednesday morning, they echoed their leader’s words, on radical activists, the rule of law and protecting jobs and the economy.
Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre said, “I do worry that the government is encouraging disorder and elevating the risk by preventing the police from doing their job and enforcing the law.”
In Quebec, where recurring tensions between Mohawk communities and police forces date back to the Oka crisis in 1990, many Quebec Conservative MPS say they support Scheer’s call for RCMP intervention to put an end to the blockades.
“Justin Trudeau’s government must act, so I completely support what our leader demanded Tuesday and Wednesday. Our position is: do something,” said Luc Berthold, the MP for Mégantic—l’érable.