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QUEBEC — With tensions mounting, the appearance of a new blockade on the South Shore and signs the economy is slowing, Premier François Legault Wednesday refused to exclude the use of force to end the dispute paralyzing railroad traffic.

But Legault’s suggestion may also have poured oil on the fire with one influential Indigenous leader warning that sending police into Kahnawake would be a “major error,” while the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador branded Legault’s statement “totally irresponsible.”

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And on the defensive in Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government is not ready to set a deadline for negotiations to end and the blockades to come down as Legault and some of the more hawkish premiers want.

Trudeau said he is “focused on resolving it (the crisis) peacefully.”