Liberals out to sea on rail blockade
But Tories are no better on coming up with a solution
The stupefying weightlessness of Justin Trudeau’s government has never been more evident than in recent days, as it tries to arrange an end to the Mohawk blockade of CN’S main line near Belleville, Ont. At times it seems as if it might just float away, like an improperly tethered bouncy castle in a thunderstorm.
This week has been particularly windy.
Trudeau stood in the House of Commons earlier this week and appealed for calm debate on how best to resolve the blockade, which is in support of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and in shared opposition to the Coastal Gaslink pipeline project that runs through their territory thousands of kilometres to the west.
“The place for these debates is here in this House,” Trudeau said. “We need to ensure we … listen to each other.” They must avoid, he said, “a desire to listen only to ourselves and to people who agree with us.”
Outgoing Conservative leader Andrew Scheer responded with a reasonable and impassioned defence of the people affected by the blockade, and of the rankand-file Wet’suwet’en members and their elected band councils who support the pipeline.
His views will be shared by millions of Canadians, probably the majority. Trudeau deemed them “disqualifying,” and refused to invite Scheer to a meeting of party leaders to discuss the crisis.
That was the day’s — year’s? Century’s? — champion hypocrisy, but there were others. Days after telling reporters “we are not the kind of country where politicians … tell the police what to do in operational matters,” Trudeau advised police not to enforce the court order demanding an end to the blockade.
INDEED, THE OKA CRISIS IS A LUDICROUSLY INFLAMMATORY ANALOGY.
“(To) those who … think that using force is helpful — it is not,” he intoned. “In the past, we have seen just how quickly these situations can change,” he added, invoking the spectres of Oka and Ipperwash.
Strangely, neither Trudeau nor his ministers objected to the RCMP’S “use of force” in clearing the Wet’suwet’en protest camps, which went off with a minimum of drama.
Indeed, the Oka Crisis — which Transport Minister Marc Garneau has cited explicitly — is a ludicrously inflammatory analogy. That conflict pitted hundreds of Mohawk warriors and their supporters against hundreds of Sûreté du Québec SWAT forces and Canadian troops. There were firefights. Counter-protesters taunted the Mohawks as “savages,” and burned a warrior in effigy. “The Indians should be all sent to Labrador,” the local Tory MP averred.
Near Belleville we have a few peaceful people camped out next to the tracks, who are demonstrably willing to talk. Canadians, in the main, are being remarkably patient. So long as the court order is enforced reasonably and proportionately — which Oka was decidedly not — it is not a disaster waiting to happen.
So the government is clear: We don’t tell the cops what to do, but we might strongly suggest they do nothing. On Tuesday evening, CBC’S Vassy Kapelos suggested an intriguing third option: Asking the cops to undo something they have already done. Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief Woos told Kapelos there would be no negotiations until the RCMP vacate the area along the Coastal Gaslink pipeline route in B.C. where the force has been effectively clearing out the original blockades. So, Kapelos asked Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller, would the government ask the RCMP to vamoose?
The correct answer was “no.” Never mind police independence, the RCMP aren’t even acting on Wet’suwet’en territory as federal agents — rather as British Columbia’s provincial police. Astonishingly, Miller didn’t rule it out. On Wednesday, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair confirmed he has had “a number of discussions” with B.C. Solicitor-general Mike Farnworth about “a number of different measures that could address some of the concerns.”
The situation is ludicrous: Because Ontario’s independent provincial police won’t enforce a court injunction, the federal public safety minister seems to be in discussions with B.C.’S solicitor general about whether B.C.’S independent provincial police might back off enforcing a different injunction.
And the worst part of this absurdist theatre festival is how difficult it is to imagine a better alternative. Conservatives continue to call on Trudeau to somehow fix the problem, but the way Canada is set up, it’s really not a federal issue. The RCMP might have some jurisdiction over the railway as federally regulated infrastructure, said University of Toronto law professor Kent Roach, but that hasn’t happened in past cases. It wouldn’t even be up to Trudeau to send in troops: under the Emergencies Act, Roach said, a provincial solicitor-general has to request it.
These are structural issues that any PM will face. Indeed, the biggest difference between the Liberals’ approach to this blockade and the Conservatives’ approach to the 2013 Idle No More protests, which included a 13-day blockade of a CN line in southwestern Ontario, has been one of rhetoric and engagement. The Conservatives talked tougher, but Aboriginal Affairs rebuffed CN’S request to intervene. (Those protesters eventually obeyed a court injunction and left.) The Liberals needlessly tie themselves in knots and insult our intelligence — they know no other way — but they clearly believe it’s their job to broker some kind of resolution.
It’s tough to say which approach is likelier to work. At this point odds seem to favour “neither.” If you have a better, workable idea to get the trains moving, for God’s sake get on the horn to Ottawa.