On the eve of the Throne Speech and in the wake of Teck’s decision to pull out of its Frontier Mine project, Premier Jason Kenney announced legislation targeting protesters who disrupt vital infrastructure networks.
Kenney blamed Teck’s withdrawal on Sunday in part on the “appearance of anarchy” caused by nationwide protests in support of Wet’suwet’en heridetary chiefs who are opposed to the CoastalGas Link project in northern B.C.
“This decision was taken in large part because of regulatory uncertainty and endless delays created by the national government, as well as the general atmosphere of lawlessness that we have seen take hold of parts of our country and much of our economic infrastructure.....
...... in the past three weeks,” said Kenney in a speech to caucus, government staff, invitees and media on Monday.
The first bill of the spring session will be the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act creating new “stiff penalties for anyone who riots on or seeks to impair critical economic infrastructure,” Kenney said The government will table the legislation, otherwise known as Bill 1 on Tue
Kenney said he had spoken to major investors who have cancelled frozen & suspended major investments in the economy because of the rail blockades.
Police can be called to serve and enforce that order. Kenney targeted “urban green left zealots,” saying they were trying to appropriate protests and condemning Indigenous people to poverty.
Kenney also promised a “citizen-initiative” referendum law in the coming days that will allow citizens to put issues that are important to them on the ballot, although he added that the government would prevent frivolous abuse of the process.
Although Teck CEO Don Lindsay criticized the lack of a regulatory framework and cited investor uncertainty in his letter to the federal government Sunday, Kenney said the province can reconcile a potential referendum over national unity issues.
“When I talk about tensions on national unity, I’m not advocating that, I’m describing a reality that exists in this province and other parts of Canada. And I think it would be grossly irresponsible for political leaders to ignore that reality,” he said.
The Bill 1 announcement came on the heels of the Appeal’s court decision Monday afternoon which ruled in favour of Alberta & declared the federal carbon tax unconstitutional
He also said that Teck did not flag environmental frameworks as a problem until its decision was public.
Opposition NDP leader Rachel Notley said Monday that Teck’s decision is the direct result of Premier Jason Kenney’s “combative” political approach.
International investors are looking for a predictable regulatory framework on greenhouse gas emissions, but instead are seeing Kenney demonize anyone with any concerns about climate change, alienating investors and leaving Albertans behind, Notley said.
Kenney has fought against the environmental frameworks that investors want & mischaracterized international banking heads & fund managers as “urban green radicals,” she said.
“He’s essentially promoting the continued investor uncertainty that created this problem in the first place,” she said
Its already illegal 2 blockade railways & police have the jurisdiction to arrest trespassers she said when asked how effective Kenneys upcoming 1st bill will be
“It comes down to what the deterrent element is, and how it’s constructed,” she said.
lijohnson@postmedia.com
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#AbLeg #AbPoli #AbGov #UcpCorruption #BringBackTheNdp #ProtectOurRightToProtest #AnyoneButUcp @jkenney @RachelNotley @GreenPartyAB @AlbertaLiberals #PeacefulProtest #CanadianRightsAndFreedoms #FreedomOfSpeech
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