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Conservative leadership candidate Erin O’Toole stressed the national character of the railroad in a plan, unveiled Thursday, that he says would prevent these situations from occurring in future. “As prime minister, he would introduce legislation to designate ports and major railways, highways and bridges as critical national infrastructure and to make it a criminal offence to block them, even without a court injunction,” the Post’s Brian Platt reported. “He also says he would declare a general policy that police should clear blockades quickly so they don’t grow to the point where ‘clearing them risks violence.’”

Alas, the OPP are every bit as responsible for enforcing the Criminal Code as they are court injunctions. Without some transfer of enforcement responsibility, the Mohawks of Tyendinaga will continue to be able to shut the CN railway down any time they like, for as long as they like, for any reason they like. It is maddening to see politicians fighting tooth and nail over this issue when they don’t have a single workable idea between them to accomplish what they all claim to want: a clear path both for CN’s locomotives and for CGL’s pipeline project.

Justin Trudeau thinks enforcing court orders is terribly boorish, so he’s not going to make a stink

Peter MacKay’s reckless Wednesday tweet in support of vigilantes who dismantled a rail blockade in Edmonton was all the more frustrating for its correct central observation: A bunch of dudes in a pickup truck got action where Canada’s entire political class has thus far failed — though you can bet the farm the Mohawks of Tyendinaga would put up more of a fight than the Edmonton lightweights, and in any event, no serious person should support such actions.