UCP bill would include compounding fines for blocking rail lines, highways

EDMONTON Protesters who blockade rail lines or highways in Alberta could face up to $25,000 in fines under a bill tabled by the UCP government Tuesday.

Blocking railways is already against federal criminal law, but Bill 1, the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act, introduced in the legislature after the throne speech, would give police and prosecutors the power to hand out more provincial penalties.

“Albertans and Canadians respect our constitutionally protected freedoms of expression, of assembly, and to protest, but blocking railways, roadways and commuter trains and critical infrastructure is simply and plainly illegal,” Kenney said.

Kenney again blamed Teck’s withdrawal of its application for the $20-billion Frontier mine on Sunday in part on “virtual anarchy” and “chaos” caused by nationwide protests in support of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who are opposed to the Coastalgas Link project in northern B.C.

“If this carries on it will have devastating impacts on our economy ... Albertans will not tolerate this kind of lawless mockery of our democratic principles and this attack on our nation’s and our province’s prosperity.”

If passed, the law would create bigger fines and prison terms of up to six months.

Bill 1 would create fines that — unlike those of previous laws — could be newly applied and added to previous fines every day that a protest continues. It would apply to a long list of “essential infrastructure,” publicly and privately owned, including oil and gas production and refinery sites, telephone lines, water utilities and dams.

Fines would start at $1,000 and could go up to $25,000 as early as Day 2 of a blockade. Corporations could also be fined up to $200,000, including for aiding, counselling or directing blockades.

The bill could also apply to massive convoys that disrupt traffic, such as the trucker convoy that ended in Nisku in December 2018 with a speech from federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer.

Whether the law would apply to such protests would be left to the discretion of police on the ground, Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer said.