Former prime minister Chrétien says Trudeau has 'absolutely no authority' to quash blockades through police force

Former prime minister Jean Chrétien says the prime minister can’t order the police to intervene to bring an end to blockades. “When there is a blockade, the prime minister has absolutely no authority,” he told reporters in Ottawa on March 3 following an event hosted by the Canada School of the Public Service. “The attorney is the one with the authority… . Trudeau cannot send one police in himself.” Though the federal and provincial governments reached a tentative deal with some of the hereditary chiefs over the nation’s land title on March 1, there remains an impasse over the planned Coastal GasLink pipeline in northeastern B.C. That arrangement still has to be approved by the Wet’suwet’en Nation. The pipeline has the support of the 20 elected band councils along the route. Over the past few weeks, demonstrations and blockades have popped up in solidarity with the hereditary leadership. The Ontario Provincial Police dismantled one near Belleville, Ont., on Feb. 25 that had forced CN Rail to temporarily shutter its tracks, while the blockade in Kahnawake, Que., located south of Montreal, remains despite the proposed agreement that would recognize the rights and title of the Wet’suwet’en people. Former NDP MP Nathan Cullen, who is serving as a provincial liaison between the Wet'suwet'en Nation, tweeted his support for Mr. Chrétien's assertion: "For those who are both demanding Trudeau call in or call off the police with regards to blockades it isn't in the job description. And I'd argued we should very much keep it that way." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) has seen his approval ratings take a hit over the blockades, with a recent Ipsos poll from Global News suggesting that 60 per cent of Canadians do not approve of his government. It’s a five-point drop in his ratings since the election, according to Ipsos. Sixty-two per cent also said they were not supportive of the blockades. The poll was conducted between Feb. 28 and March 2, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Mr. Trudeau initially called for “patience” amid uproar from opposition Conservatives over the blockades, ruling out police intervention in a bid to avoid a repeat of the 1990 Oka Crisis in Quebec, which saw the Mulroney government send in the Canadian Army at the request of the Liberal provincial government of Robert Bourassa to quash the protests. The Oka Crisis led to one fatality. But at a press conference in Ottawa on Feb. 21 four days later, Mr. Trudeau signalled that the police would be moving in end the blockade near Belleville, and several people were arrested after a deadline ordering them to leave passed. Addressing reporters’ questions about national unity in light of the protests and rumblings of separation from some disaffected Albertans, Mr. Chrétien said Canada remains “more united than ever.” “In public life, we’re in the business of solving problems. I did it for 40 years,” he said. CN and VIA Rail say they temporarily laid off 1,500 employees due to the rail blockades, which began on Feb. 6. The Hill Times

Former prime minister Chrétien says Trudeau has ‘absolutely no authority’ to quash blockades through police force

'For those who are both demanding Trudeau call in or call off the police with regards to blockades it isn't in the job description,' tweets former NDP MP Nathan Cullen, who is serving as B.C.'s liaison with the Wet'suwet'en people.

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