Canadian Railroads > CN Toronto area yard, Mac Millian Yard, Now Blocked By Protesters

As of this morning "demonstrators" have now blocked trains from entering or leaving CN's Mac Yard. The York sub (Freight line that runs around Toronto ) is also be blocked.  Also the north - south  GO Barrie line has only limited services because of a related blockade.. 

While cn's news releases have indicate that they were performing a "progressive and ordered shut down of "  services for its "eastern operations"  they had continued to dispatch some trains west from Mac Yard.  ie  trains to  its US gateways, Ft.  Erie/Sarnia and  a few  (?)  trains to northern Ontario.  Per media reports  all traffic out of mac yard is now stopped.   The inter-modal yard in Brampton is not directly blocked but due to the york sub blockage it can only dispatch trains to the west   (ie to Ft.  Erie/Sarnia).  All motive power used on these trains usually comes from Mac Yard so my guess is that they are unable to originate any trains trains.
The group was served an injunction by Canadian National Railway police Saturday afternoon, but per  CTV News Toronto the document was set on fire. 

As for  the federal government, well  the prime minister has stated " the disruptions must be resolved through dialogue, not by ordering in the police.

Canada doesn't tell police what to do, Trudeau says of rail blockade
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-doesn-t-tell-police-what-to-do-trudeau-says-of-rail-blockades-1.4811999

​Clearly our politicians  don't want any part of this problem.  If the court orders requiring the the trespassers to leave  are enforced by the CN Police or any other force, our politicians want to avoid all of the resulting criticism ......

The closure of mac yard, CN Major terminal in eastern Canada, will significantly impact the Canadian economy very badly and very quickly.

GO transit, other than the Barrie line has not been effected........ YET......   If the GO lines were to be blockaded on Tuesday (Monday is a public holiday here), the city of Toronto would be shut down.....   

Media links

Protest in support of Wet'suwet'en blocks trains in Vaughan rail yard
https://www.cp24.com/news/protest-in-support-of-wet-suwet-en-blocks-trains-in-vaughan-rail-yard-1.4813643Going after Canada where it hurts the most': GTA rail blockade supports B.C. pipeline protests
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/gta-protesters-ontario-rail-blockade-1.5465525

 Anti-pipeline protesters block trains leaving Vaughan rail yard in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/anti-pipeline-protesters-block-trains-leaving-vaughan-rail-yard-in-solidarity-with-wet-suwet-en-1.4813635



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/20 14:40 by dxm332.

Anyone else find it somewhat ironic that (I quote from another news report): "The protesters gathered at Bloor and Spadina Sts. and >>>took the subway<<< north to Pioneer Village subway station, then proceeded to Macmillan Yard."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/20 14:17 by xcnsnake.

Note in the article it says the Conservative leader recognizes the problem and says the blockades should be removed by force. Meanwhile, while VIA passenger's plans are disrupted and the economy suffers, the PM is in Munich for an Economic conference. How ironic. If he lets them get away with these illegal protests now, who's to say they won't start up again.  (And yes, I'm American so I don't really have a dog in the fight. Excepting  I'm on on No. 1 in a few weeks and am greatly looking forward to it. If it's canceled, I blame PM Trudeau and his inept government for not taking action). 

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Note in the article it says the Conservative
> leader recognizes the problem and says the
> blockades should be removed by force. Meanwhile,
> while VIA passenger's plans are disrupted and the
> economy suffers, the PM is in Munich for an
> Economic conference. How ironic. If he lets them
> get away with these illegal protests now, who's to
> say they won't start up again.  (And yes, I'm
> American so I don't really have a dog in the
> fight. Excepting  I'm on on No. 1 in a few weeks
> and am greatly looking forward to it. If it's
> canceled, I blame PM Trudeau and his inept
> government for not taking action). 

Glad you will be on #1 in a few weeks.  I am sure that OUR PM will be working to end this just because of YOU!!!!!

BTW what the leader of the Conservative party says is pretty irrelevant as he is a lame duck leader!!!!  He could not win an election that was basically a slam dunk for him and his minions!

I find it a little disturbing that these protesters are climbing all over loaded [oil/propane carrying] tank cars and other freight cars in the CN Yard (private property for all intents and purposes) - with bonfires lit nearby flammable materials...????!!!!!!. They are causing damage and potentially endangering their lives, others, and those in the community. Attaching posters, banners, flags etc. on the the tops of various freight cars and equipment/buildings/infrastructure owned/installed by CN..... This is not very safe protesting, or at least this particular one. But I saw similar footage of other protests exhibiting same behavior. 

These protesters are out to "shut Canada down" (they are being very vocal about that!) and are uniting in "solidarity to protest the brutality of the RCMP."
 
Frankly, I don't know if all of the protesters really know what exactly they are protesting.

I didn't see pictures or video, but supposedly the RCMP tried to enforce a court order that demanding that construction workers be allowed access to land in British Columbia where the pipelines is being built. The RCMP were abiding by a "court order." Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs and their supporters refused to move. In a series of confrontations at various protester camps, the RCMP arrested more than two dozen people.
 
This quote summed things up a little bit more precisely. 
 
"They came in with armed forces to remove peaceful people that are doing the right thing at the right time for the right reasons," Na'Mok, one of the chiefs, told NPR.  "We're protecting the land, the air, the water, our rights and title as hereditary chiefs, and we're exercising our jurisdiction."
 
I would say that peaceful demonstrations are also demonstrations that have a sense of safety to them, and that’s suspect in my mind......

And is blocking transportation links and “shutting Canada down” the right way to deal with this disagreement that's erupted? Not sure if I agree with that linkage at all. There’s no winners in that it seems. Trudeau is out of the country (in Africa) as these "indigenous-led anti-pipeline protest have shut down vital cross-continent rail lines in Canada, disrupting freight and passenger service and costing millions of dollars in lost revenue, officials say."

"Canada's transport minister, Marc Garneau, has called the rail blockade illegal and dangerous," NPR.

Having vested parties sit down in Ottawa to try and negotiate something would likely be the best course of action right now, while asking for a temporary halt to all demonstrations. 
  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/20 15:45 by jp1822.

Watching these clowns crawling on tank cars at McMillan is the most distubing thing i've yet seen.
Can you imagine if one of these dodo's opens a tank car valve of propane or benzene, well you get the picture.
The leadership of this country is PATHETIC !
 

Mike Bannon
St Catharines, ON

What exactly do these protesters / demonstrators want?

They want ......Surrender by the nation of canada
No oil or gas pipelines
No oil sands development
Immediate change to zero emissions
All electrical generation by fossil fuel to stop immeadiately
First nations to a have veto over all resource developments
All land claims to be accepted without question...
And our prime minister is stupid enough to try and appease these demonstrators.
One interesting point to consider is that most first nation bands who territory the natural gas pipeline passes have approved it and have development agreements that will generate significant funds for thier first nation bands
Most of the protesters here in Toronto are the usual suspects.... they show up for any left wing protests...

Posted from Android

Well, I’m afraid we are all going to be learning the lesson that “elections do matter”, and that our MSM turning them into personalty contests to influence the results has contributed to this mess. It is not going to end well. > BTW what the leader of the Conservative party says
> is pretty irrelevant as he is a lame duck
> leader!!!!  He could not win an election that was
> basically a slam dunk for him and his minions!

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Note in the article it says the Conservative
> leader recognizes the problem and says the
> blockades should be removed by force. Meanwhile,
> while VIA passenger's plans are disrupted and the
> economy suffers, the PM is in Munich for an
> Economic conference. How ironic. If he lets them
> get away with these illegal protests now, who's to
> say they won't start up again.  (And yes, I'm
> American so I don't really have a dog in the
> fight. Excepting  I'm on on No. 1 in a few weeks
> and am greatly looking forward to it. If it's
> canceled, I blame PM Trudeau and his inept
> government for not taking action). 

Trudeau is busy running around Africa and Europe trying to win Canada a seat on the UN Security Council.
What a colossal waste of our tax money!!!
And No, I do not have any use for the little weasel!

 

Will MacKenzie
Dundas, ON

Will
Its really not fair to compare the prime minister to a weasel.....

Weasels perform a useful role in the environment

The prime minister performs no known useful role.....

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/20 05:05 by dxm332.

dxm332 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Will
> Its really not fair to compare the prime
> minister to a weasel.....
>
> Weasels perform a useful role in the environment
>
> The prime minister performs no known useful
> role.....

You are absolutely right!
I apologize to all weasels (after all, I was once called a weasel myself in a major Toronto and National newspaper).

 

Will MacKenzie
Dundas, ON

dxm332 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They want ......Surrender by the nation of canada
> No oil or gas pipelines
> No oil sands development
> Immediate change to zero emissions
> All electrical generation by fossil fuel to stop
> immeadiately
> First nations to a have veto over all resource
> developments
> All land claims to be accepted without
> question...
> And our prime minister is stupid enough to try
> and appease these demonstrators.
> One interesting point to consider is that most
> first nation bands who territory the natural gas
> pipeline passes have approved it and have
> development agreements that will generate
> significant funds for thier first nation bands
> Most of the protesters here in Toronto are the
> usual suspects.... they show up for any left wing
> protests...
>
> Posted from Android



What's to stop the First Nations from eventually pushing newcomer Second Nation European folk (aka Canada) off the continent entirely?

This is one way land is reclaimed. Proximity + diversity = friction. And when you're winning, push even harder.

Will Canada push back? Do they still have what it takes? Not seeing it so far.