Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said he is concerned that if police don’t start dealing with rail protesters across the country, Canadians will do so..“There is concern with police not enforcing court orders – I am concerned citizens may do so,” Kenney told reporters in Calgary on Friday..“We’ve seen elements of that already.”.Kenney was referring to an Edmonton- area blockade earlier this week. After about eight hours a group of six men in a couple of pick-up trucks arrived and dismantled the barricade in a matter of minutes..“I’d much rather the trained and properly authorized police enforce court orders,” Kenney said..Several courts across the country have handed down injunctions barring protesters from blocking rail lines. But so far, there haven’t been any police force that have acted on them..The blockaders say they are in support of a B.C. Indigenous band that is protesting the Coastal GasLink pipeline being built through their land..Kenney said he is very concerned the rule of elected Indigenous chiefs is not being followed..He noted there have been ten elections in the last decade among the Wet’suwet’en people and every elected chief has supported the Coastal GasLink pipeline..“I am very concerned that we not end up undermining the legitimate elected authority of First Nation leaders in a case like this,” Kenney said..• What the Western Standard says.Last Thursday, CN Rail announced it was closing down operations in eastern Canada while Via Rail shuttered its entire network because of a Mohawk rail blockade near Brockville, Ont..Tory leader Andrew Scheer said enough is enough and it’s time for Trudeau to call in the RCMP to clear the blockades..“Quite frankly, this is getting ridiculous. Radical activists, many of whom have no connection to theWet’suwet’en people, are holding our economy hostage. Meanwhile our prime minister has been out of the country on a vanity project to win a vote at the UN, neglecting his duties here at home,” Scheer said, referencing Trudeau’s jaunt to Africa..“Do the right thing, Prime Minister Trudeau. We can’t allow a small number of activists to hold our economy hostage and threaten thousands of jobs. I believe it’s time for the law to be enforced. Law enforcement should enforce the law. We have court orders, court injunctions, they need to be respected.”.The protests have been growing across Canada for two weeks since the RCMP raided and tore down an Indigenous camp near Smithers..Last Thursday, the protesters at the main camp released a new video of RCMP action at the site..The pipeline has the support of all First Nations along the route, but hereditary chiefs of Wet’suwet’en Nation, through which 28% of the 670-km route passes, oppose it..A group of unelected hereditary chiefs had set up a camp near Smithers and have kicked out Coastal GasLink workers..The RCMP said they have found traps like felled trees and three stacks of tires along with flammables along the access road..On Jan. 7, 2019, RCMP arrested 14 protesters along the B.C. logging road. .International attention was drawn to the issue when a British newspaper reported RCMP were ready to shoot protesters when they broke up the camp. The RCMP denied the story..On Dec. 31, the B.C. Supreme Court granted CGL an injunction against members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation from blocking the pipeline route near Smithers, B.C..But the situation has been further complicated after a Jan. 3 edict by the Unist’ot’en, a smaller group within the First Nation, that they intend to terminate an agreement that had granted the company access to the land..The RCMP checkpoint had been set up at the 27-km mark of the forest service road “to mitigate safety concerns related to the hazardous items of fallen trees and tire piles with incendiary fluids along the roadway.”.The $6.6 billion pipeline, to be operated by TC Energy Corp, would transport gas from near Dawson Creek in northeast B.C. to Kitimat on the coast and supply Canada’s largest liquefied natural gas export terminal, called LNG Canada, which is under construction..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter: @Nobby7694
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said he is concerned that if police don’t start dealing with rail protesters across the country, Canadians will do so..“There is concern with police not enforcing court orders – I am concerned citizens may do so,” Kenney told reporters in Calgary on Friday..“We’ve seen elements of that already.”.Kenney was referring to an Edmonton- area blockade earlier this week. After about eight hours a group of six men in a couple of pick-up trucks arrived and dismantled the barricade in a matter of minutes..“I’d much rather the trained and properly authorized police enforce court orders,” Kenney said..Several courts across the country have handed down injunctions barring protesters from blocking rail lines. But so far, there haven’t been any police force that have acted on them..The blockaders say they are in support of a B.C. Indigenous band that is protesting the Coastal GasLink pipeline being built through their land..Kenney said he is very concerned the rule of elected Indigenous chiefs is not being followed..He noted there have been ten elections in the last decade among the Wet’suwet’en people and every elected chief has supported the Coastal GasLink pipeline..“I am very concerned that we not end up undermining the legitimate elected authority of First Nation leaders in a case like this,” Kenney said..• What the Western Standard says.Last Thursday, CN Rail announced it was closing down operations in eastern Canada while Via Rail shuttered its entire network because of a Mohawk rail blockade near Brockville, Ont..Tory leader Andrew Scheer said enough is enough and it’s time for Trudeau to call in the RCMP to clear the blockades..“Quite frankly, this is getting ridiculous. Radical activists, many of whom have no connection to theWet’suwet’en people, are holding our economy hostage. Meanwhile our prime minister has been out of the country on a vanity project to win a vote at the UN, neglecting his duties here at home,” Scheer said, referencing Trudeau’s jaunt to Africa..“Do the right thing, Prime Minister Trudeau. We can’t allow a small number of activists to hold our economy hostage and threaten thousands of jobs. I believe it’s time for the law to be enforced. Law enforcement should enforce the law. We have court orders, court injunctions, they need to be respected.”.The protests have been growing across Canada for two weeks since the RCMP raided and tore down an Indigenous camp near Smithers..Last Thursday, the protesters at the main camp released a new video of RCMP action at the site..The pipeline has the support of all First Nations along the route, but hereditary chiefs of Wet’suwet’en Nation, through which 28% of the 670-km route passes, oppose it..A group of unelected hereditary chiefs had set up a camp near Smithers and have kicked out Coastal GasLink workers..The RCMP said they have found traps like felled trees and three stacks of tires along with flammables along the access road..On Jan. 7, 2019, RCMP arrested 14 protesters along the B.C. logging road. .International attention was drawn to the issue when a British newspaper reported RCMP were ready to shoot protesters when they broke up the camp. The RCMP denied the story..On Dec. 31, the B.C. Supreme Court granted CGL an injunction against members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation from blocking the pipeline route near Smithers, B.C..But the situation has been further complicated after a Jan. 3 edict by the Unist’ot’en, a smaller group within the First Nation, that they intend to terminate an agreement that had granted the company access to the land..The RCMP checkpoint had been set up at the 27-km mark of the forest service road “to mitigate safety concerns related to the hazardous items of fallen trees and tire piles with incendiary fluids along the roadway.”.The $6.6 billion pipeline, to be operated by TC Energy Corp, would transport gas from near Dawson Creek in northeast B.C. to Kitimat on the coast and supply Canada’s largest liquefied natural gas export terminal, called LNG Canada, which is under construction..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter: @Nobby7694
