So it was that the first train passed the two-week blockade of the nation’s rail network. I was on the road myself, my Via Rail train cancelled, as Via Rail gently put it, “following an advisory from the infrastructure owner that they are unable to support our operations across their network.” Was it an earthquake? A labour dispute? A sudden decision to get out of the infrastructure support business?
Hard to tell what the mysterious cause of the cancellation was, just as so much reporting on the blockades seemed eager to avoid describing just exactly what was going on. So driving back to Kingston from Toronto rather than taking the train, I thought I would stop off and have a look for myself.
On the railway overpass on 49, I arrived in time for the first CN freight train to pass in weeks. It cruised slowly through, locomotive number 2279, offering only a solitary sounding of the horn as it passed the police and protesters by. The police on the north side were standing in place, flashlights at the ready, to see what was going on. On the south side the scene was rather more active, with a few men scurrying about. As the train passed, one man lit a wooden pallet aflame just a few metres from the tracks. I doubt the officers on the other side could see it, but the officers on the overpass certainly got some low quality video of it, having deployed their phones.
After train 2279 went on its way, the Mohawks threw a flaming tire on the tracks itself. That brought about a dozen OPP vehicles streaming onto the site from the north side, and dozens of officers assembled to look earnestly at the fire set upon the tracks. After a few moments of strategizing with the newly arrived reinforcements, a lone officer stepped boldly forward, approaching the flaming southern rails, and took decisive action: “Anyone over there want to talk?”
Just pathetic.
Update: rail blockade setup in Toronto, Milton GO train service suspended
Related, a new one from David:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njOZ6lolUNw&t=20s
“We can’t guarantee your safety”
Kudos to David Menzies. He’s got balls.
*
TIME TRAVEL WITH ME BACK TO 1819:
It’s been festering for 200 years…
“Will not a difficulty arise, as to who these people are?”
“In the Mohawk village here, a large proportion are the immediate descendants of
Germans; there is also a family of immediate descendants of Africans: Are they to
be considered as Indians?”
“There are also some descendants of Americans, whose ancestors were Europeans.”
“In fact, there are but few real Indians amongst them.”
Letter from John Ferguson to William Claus, Deputy Superintendent General,
Indian Affairs, 5 March 1819, concerning threats made by Mohawks of the
Bay of Quinte to passers-by.
*
Not suggesting it be done, but wouldn’t a 23-and-me DNA test on some “indigenous” people perhaps prove interesting…
lf a self-described hereditary chief walked into the HOC and dropped a deuce on a table, our government wouldn’t know whether to eat it, worship it as being culturally modified, or consult with the SCOC as to it being a legitimate claim for “rights and title”.
You missed the option to have it bronzed and spot welded to the scepter. Have some artistic vison.
Coulda had Max…
In hindsight, CPC really showed their utter incompetence with their treatment of the Albertan from Quebec.
As a country , we are screwed
I understand why people are disgusted by all these blockader criminals, but think of them as our useful idiots. And by “our” I mean those of us who are 100% SERIOUS about #Wexit.
Let the rule of law break down, let the economy crash, and let the already existing divisions in this country grow so deep as to be irreparable. I want Jason Kenney and Francois Legault to get so angry and frustrated with the fedgov’s tolerance of this anarchy that they finally throw up their hands in despair and say “F*@k Canada, we’re outta here.”
As conservatives it goes against every fiber of our being to support these disgusting leftist lawbreakers. But they are effectively doing our job for us: making Canada so completely ungovernable that separation will be the only viable option going forward.
So sit back, relax and enjoy the show!
#BlockadeCanada
I concur.
My impulse about how to deal with law breakers is arrest and detention. But in this case the majority being imposed on are those that tend to show nothing but distain for the “deplorables” and the ones doing the disruption are their fellow travellers.
When your enemies are conducting a civil war don’t interfere.
Exactly.
Think Captain Capitalism. ENJOY THE DECLINE! Let it burn!
The left has decided to go to war with itself.
The cops have been neutered, Donut eating Capons!
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” ~ Napoleon Bonaparte
Let them glue themselves to the subway during rush hour. They are changing minds. Just not the way they think.
Fully agree jeppo.
Popcorn time.
Why do we pay cops to sit on their asses and do nothing? I worked for a rail crew one summer We spread tons of gravel with a tie in front of the wheels of a train. I’m sure it would work for protesters too
They don’t want to rush things, overtime and all….
Time to invoke the War Measures Act. His mom’s husband did it. So why not?
Who knew that burning a Goodyear LT275/65R18 All Terrain Radial tire was part of the rich cultural heritage of our native peoples?
Would it be cultural appropriation if I were to fire one up outside of the entrance to the CBC building to protest something or other?
Maybe in protest of our racist justice system?
Or would that be frowned upon because it is cultural appropriation?
Perhaps dumping a 3 ton truck load of cow manure on the sidewalk in front of the RCMP building or on the sidewalk in front of the CBC offices would be more culturally appropriate.
There appear to be no laws and no law enforcement if you are in the act of protesting something.
Or is there a skin color component of the equation that I am missing?
*
“Or is there a skin color component of the equation that I am missing?”
stan… try blockading an abortion clinic and see how quickly “the horsemen”
fall on your pale white arse.
or throw a flaming tire onto someone else’s property.
*
Setting tires on fire may turn into Mandela Necklaces. It’s could be only a matter of time.
https://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_Winnie_Mandela_necklace
A pile of burning tires on the rails could distort them, providing a life hazard. These scum should be arrrested and jailed. The prime responsibility of government is to ensure the free passage of peopkle and trade, AKA defence and rule of law; if a governmetn doesn’t provide that, it has no legitimacy.
I agree with that. I’m willing to go further and I’m just an old white guy … WTF do I know what is wrong with this country other than to know I’m old enough.
bverwey
So just like the federal government, the OPP are as useful as tits on a bull.
From the NP
“…in the wake of the MMIWG report, whose conclusions Trudeau accepted… Our new slogan is basically “Stop Us Before We Kill Again.”“
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/jonathan-kay-canadas-cultural-elites-have-seen-the-enemy-and-it-is-canadians
A reason for the blockades…Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?
The solution to these blockade problems is a simple one. Immediately stop every single government payment to our on reserve friends. Pretty good chance the tracks will clear themselves.
Would someone please advise the protestors that old John Wayne movies on AMC are NOT documentaries.
Bernier is absolutely right. The divide and conquer strategy of the left leaves the conquerors atop a terribly divided nation peopled by various groups of victims and the rest of us. The Democrats are following the same plan in the US. They, at least, don’t have someone like Justin in the driver’s seat. Canada needs a fearless conservative leader.
So where’s Doug Ford in any of this?
Funny the Ontario provincial Premier seems a little absent, no?