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Really? It’s “racist” to condemn a campaign of economic blockades largely orchestrated by non-Indigenous protesters, including anarchists who openly vow to destroy the Canadian economy?

Don’t forget the Coastal GasLink pipeline at the centre of the battle is widely supported by First Nations, Indigenous-owned businesses and hundreds of Indigenous workers employed on the project.

In Victoria, meanwhile, the Opposition Liberals also portrayed Horgan and his NDP government as feeble and flimsy as the blockades continue.

On Wednesday, the Liberals zeroed in on Environment Minister George Heyman, demanding he condemn pro-blockade statements issued by the Sierra Club. The environmental group came out in support of “peaceful blockades” against the pipeline and said the Supreme Court of B.C. “perpetuated violence” against the Wet’suwet’en First Nation for approving its construction.

Why go after Heyman for that? Because he used to be executive director of the Sierra Club, that’s why. As the Liberals relentlessly baited him in Question Period, Heyman simply sat and refused to answer.

The Liberals launched a social-media campaign to remind voters that many NDP cabinet ministers are former environmental and social-justice activists. That includes Attorney General David Eby, who wrote a handbook for street protesters when he was fighting the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

As the political pressure rises, both levels of government insist they prefer a negotiated settlement to end the blockades. For Trudeau and Horgan, the spectre of violent confrontations between police and Indigenous protesters must be disturbing. The names of past conflicts surely haunt them: Oka. Ipperwash. Caledonia. Gustafsen Lake.