Roundup: Protests and impossible demands

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The protests in support of the hereditary chiefs who are against the BC Coastal GasLink pipeline continue to disrupt the rail corridors in central Canada, though that may soon come to an end as the OPP has stated that the situation has become “dire” and threatened enforcement of court injunctions soon enough. Rail service has been cancelled for both freight and passengers, which is going to cause some economic disruption, especially as other sympathetic protesters have been attempting to blockade ports on both coasts. The federal government maintains that they are very concerned about what is happening, but state that these remain areas of provincial jurisdiction, and that’s something that we can’t simply handwave away.

And this is something that should be remarked upon a little more – the demands that the federal government get involved with the Coastal GasLink situation are essentially saying that the government should ignore the constitution, or that when a group feels aggrieved by the provincial government that they can then turn around and demand that the federal government do something, like asking your mother for permission after your father says no. Meanwhile, some of the protesters – like those staging a “sit-in” in the Department of Justice building, are making novel demands of the minister that are outside of his powers, and which don’t respond to how government operates in Canada – particularly given that the RCMP operates at arm’s length and doesn’t take orders from the justice minister or any Cabinet minister. In this case, they are enforcing a court order, which again, the government can’t simply step in and make disappear. We have a rule of law. And yes, the situation is complicated by the fact that there aren’t treaties in this area of BC, which means there is uncertainty as to the rights and title question (which have been under negotiation for years, if not decades), but the justice minister can’t wave a magic wand. Real life doesn’t work like that, and for this group to declare that if he doesn’t wave a magic wand by today that “reconciliation is dead,” well, it’s more than a little precious.

Meanwhile, these protests are giving rise to other voices who want to exploit the situation, like Conservative leadership hopeful who says that if he was prime minister, he would do something about it. He won’t say what – but by gum he’d do something! Jason Kenney, meanwhile, is trying to build the case that this is somehow a “dress rehearsal” for future pipeline protests, and calling these actions “ecocolonial” (whatever that means). Meanwhile, his environment minister is slagging the First Nation chief who has raised concerns about Teck Frontier and the lack of engagement by the provincial government, saying that it’s just about money and the government has to worry about taxpayers. Of course, unless Kenney and company don’t tone it down, things are bound to get worse because of the underlying complexity, so perhaps people need to take a deep breath.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau is in Senegal to shore up support for Canada’s UN Security Council seat bid. He will head to the Caribbean next week to shore up support there.
  • Trudeau has been late in filing disclosures to the Ethics Commissioner, as a result of an “administrative oversight.”
  • Over the course of 2019, our submarine fleet saw no time in the ocean as all four were tied up for repairs or upgrades.
  • RCMP civilian employees are trying to hold off being migrated over to the Phoenix pay system while it remains a gong show.
  • Apparently the Alberta government has been counting its oilsands emission differently than the federal government has been.
  • An IRB adjudicator tried to decline a refugee claim saying a woman couldn’t have been raped if she decided not to abort the resulting child from it.
  • Donald Trump has named Aldona Woz, a fundraiser and former diplomat, as the new ambassador to Canada.
  • In amidst spouting a bunch of meme-driven bullshit, Erin O’Toole promises he won’t move the party closer to the centre.
  • After floating a leadership bid, Conservative MP John Williamson has decided against running.
  • Jane Philpott has been named the next dean of Health Sciences at Queen’s University, starting July 1st.
  • Heather Scoffield tries to suss out the “clues of compromise” amidst Jason Kenney’s bluster.
  • My column delves into what Senator Woo is proposing for his “programming committee,” and what it says about the state of the “new” Senate.

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3 thoughts on “Roundup: Protests and impossible demands”

  1. I notice a certain exiled former MoJAG who represents a B.C. riding, once wrote her own lengthy ethnic-separatist manifesto, and grandstanded as a she-ro to the downtrodden, has been remarkably quiet lately about “reconciliation” and the (cough) “rule of law.”

    Then again, maybe I shouldn’t jinx it.

  2. So the NDP federal leader threw Rachel Notley under the bus when she was still Premier of Alberta and now he is doing that again with NDP Premier of British Columbia.

  3. Kenney’s position in the fray is further complicated by the fact that the agency that manages public sector funds has bought into the Coast Pipeline for a huge share. It’s made even more murky by the fact that one of the things they did in the fall was commandeer teachers’ pensions. Maybe he was hoping that would have a pacifying effect. I doubt if.

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