Madam Speaker, today we are talking about the rail blockades, but what we are really talking about is a screw-up.
We are talking about a Liberal screw-up that is not only a Liberal screw-up, but also a Canadian screw-up. Right now, the government just does not want to get involved. I will get to the rail blockade situation in a bit.
For example, the government has taken a hands-off approach to letting rail companies regulate themselves. They pretty much get to decide which rules work for them. That leads to consequences such as accidents and explosions. Quebeckers remember the Lac-Mégantic tragedy like it happened yesterday, and I do not think they will forget it anytime soon.
The government has also taken a hands-off approach to rail traffic control centres. In 2012, which was not that long ago, there were five rail traffic control centres in Canada. Soon there will be just two: one for Canadian National, or CN, and one for Canadian Pacific, or CP. What happens if there is an accident? Nobody knows. Rail traffic will be shut down across the country. Nobody will be able to do anything about it, and we will end up in the same situation we are in now thanks to that hands-off policy.
The government also takes a hands-off approach to the Indian Act, a law rooted in colonialism and paternalism that Canada forced on indigenous peoples in 1876. This act essentially treated indigenous peoples like children who were then told what was good for them. This created a bitter and tense atmosphere. The act was implemented in 1867. This is 2020. There are quite a few years between 1876 and 2020. How can it have taken so long to consider the possibility that the act does not reflect reality?
The government has not made this clear. We have heard some complaints from the government. It half-heartedly says that it was not perfect. We know what the problem is. The problem is that damn Indian Act. This piece of legislation is catastrophic for indigenous peoples, and they have never accepted it.
In the long term, the current crisis is the result of the Indian Act. In the short term, the other problem is the Liberal government. This is why I am talking about the Canadian government as a whole and about the Liberal government. There is the long term and the short term.
Rail blockades have quietly popped up all over Canada. After the first few blockades, the government buried its head in the sand. They would not answer their phones and no one knew what was going on. They acted like nothing was wrong, like everything was fine. It boggles the mind.
There were news stories about the situation, including images of people blockading rail lines. On the government side, there was no response, no spokesperson, no sign, no light. That got people's attention. Rather than taking action, meeting with people or taking any initiative right away, the government let things go. Days passed and the blockades did not go away; rather, they multiplied. Suddenly, there was not just one blockade, there were two, three, four or five. I do not know how many there are, for I am not counting. In a situation like this, one can no longer continue to say there is no problem and simply look the other way, because the blockades are everywhere. Both CN and VIA Rail decided to halt all trains, but that has caused problems.
My colleague, the member for La Prairie, was just saying that he tried to contact the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and the Minister of Indigenous Services, but that they could not be reached. He did not hear from them. It was difficult to understand.
Also, the Deputy Prime Minister was nowhere to be found. There was no response or leadership from her. We do not know where she was during this crisis.
As for the Prime Minister, he was abroad. He was trying to win a seat on the UN Security Council, which is not a bad thing in and of itself. The problem is that when the house is on fire, they must deal with the problems instead of looking for gratification elsewhere. In my opinion, the government's management of the situation has been disastrous thus far.
The Minister of Transport was missing in action. We did not see him and we did not know where he was. The first time we saw him was at the meeting with the provincial first ministers. As there were cameras at the meeting, we were unable to say anything. What we finally learned was that the minister washed his hands of the situation and that the provinces were to find a solution.
Initially there was a blockade in British Columbia, but now they are everywhere. The entire rail system is blocked. This is not a matter of telling one little province to deal with its problems. Everyone is suffering. I think the government is totally out of touch with its management.
It is disappointing because it took just about a week before the government started to say that there may be a problem. What happened during that week? Nothing happened. There were blockades, people protested, goods stopped being shipped. The government did nothing. It let the situation fester. Obviously, when a situation is allowed to fester, everything around it gets soiled and the situation gets worse. The wound turns gangrenous and becomes harder to deal with. Obviously this has been mismanaged, and the other side needs to change course.
Faced with everyone's anger, the government finally had to consider that there might be a problem and it might have to start giving it some thought. Over the weekend, a few pitiful ministers attended meetings here and there, their heads hanging low. They felt they had no choice but to go talk to them, but they should have done that a week earlier. It is rather disappointing. In fact, it is quite disappointing because the result was actually not bad. One blockade was lifted, but elsewhere nothing moved and the blockades are still there.
Members will understand our disappointment. The government should have grabbed the bull by the horns and gone to see these people from the start. It should have taken these people into consideration, as they are protesting for good reason. They are not happy that a pipeline is being shoved down their throats. In Quebec, we would not be happy either if energy east were shoved down our throats. I think there would be major protests if that happened.
Plus, these people are not happy with how they are being treated under the Indian Act. They have every reason to complain. We need to listen to them and pay attention to the problem they are dealing with. We cannot not ignore them and look the other way when there is a problem, and we cannot leave businesses in the lurch. There is no comparison.
Here is the situation: CN sent 450 people home. They cannot work because the rail line is not operational. This might be just the beginning. That number could climb to 1,000, 2,000 or 6,000 people, because a lot of people work there. If people cannot work, CN is not going to pay them to sit at their desks and twiddle their thumbs. Things have to move.
Right now, CN is not moving. Soon, grocery stores will realize they cannot stock their shelves and will have to truck goods in. They will have to raise their prices because it is going to cost them 25% more.
Farmers, schools and hospitals are not getting propane, and people are very worried that we could soon end up with a propane shortage. Cities could run out of chlorine and be unable to treat their water. Drinking water is an important issue. If this continues, the port of Montreal will no longer be able to receive ships. That seems to have been the implication today. The port would be blocked.
I think about the businesses in my riding that are being hit hard. ArcelorMittal employs nearly 2,000 people back home. The company tells us that it will have to slow production at some point. The metals are no longer coming in, and the company cannot produce stock. Danone, which employs hundreds of people in my riding and supplies all of the yogourt in this country, is saying the same thing. The yogourt will not be good anymore, and they do not know what to do.
Today, faced with all these problems, we have a Prime Minister who said he would make a ministerial statement in the House of Commons, but who did not say anything. He simply repeated the same things, namely that there was a problem and that they are going to try to have a dialogue. There is no solution, no action plan. It is rather discouraging.
The Bloc Québécois proposed some solutions. We proposed creating a war room from the start. The government did not do that. It waited. Then we proposed a mediator. The government did nothing. It waited. We proposed recalling the House yesterday. The government did not want to. We are also proposing, at the very least, that work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline be suspended. That might be good for dialogue.
We would like the government to listen to our suggestions and put them into action. At the end of the day, it could also study the Indian Act properly and make it consistent with the requirements and needs of the first nations.