Chrétien says today's national unity challenges can't compare to the October Crisis
'The separation of Alberta will not take them closer to the Pacific,' former PM says
Former prime minister Jean Chrétien today dismissed the claim that Canada is experiencing another national unity crisis, arguing that rail blockades and regional tensions over oil and gas can't compare to the challenges he faced as an elected official.
"When I started in politics, we were worried about the unity of the country because there was bombs exploding in Montréal, there was the kidnapping of the British … [trade] commissioner and Pierre Laporte was killed …" Chrétien said in Ottawa after appearing at an event co-sponsored by the University of Ottawa and the Canada School of Public Service.
"That is a few years ago and we are still together, more united as ever."
The former prime minister described the challenges facing the current government as manageable. He said that while he is "always worried" about national unity to some degree, he is "not too worried" about the situation facing the country today.
"We always had that type of problem," he said. "I've been around for 40 years and there's always a problem to be resolved. And when we face them, we think that is very difficult but we always find a solution. And they will find [a] solution. We have to be patient."
After a 2019 federal election that saw the federal Liberals completely locked out of Alberta and Saskatchewan, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland as his point person on intergovernmental affairs. Part of Freeland's mission is to reach out to those two provinces to counter growing calls for Western separation.
Calls for "Wexit", or western Canadian separation, are loudest in Alberta. The province's economy has been hit hard by the falling price of oil and its struggles to access international markets.
Those troubles were compounded by the delays in the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, which has faced legal challenges from some Indigenous groups and the provincial government in B.C. Last month, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed legal challenges of the project, clearing construction to resume.
Dealing with roadblocks
Chrétien said leaving Canada would not help Alberta get its oil to the B.C. coast, where it can be shipped abroad.
"The separation of Alberta will not take them closer to the Pacific," he said. "They will still need a pipeline through B.C. or United States … you can't blame Trudeau for that."
The Trudeau government also has faced headwinds over the Coastal GasLink project, a natural gas pipeline being built from Dawson Creek in northern B.C. to Kitimat, on the province's coast.
While 20 First Nations band councils along the route of the pipeline have signed agreements with Coastal GasLink, hereditary chiefs of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation have fought against the project.
That opposition led to a blockade of a service road needed to build the pipeline on Wet'suwet'en land, and to a series of port and railway blockades across the country as other First Nations came out in solidarity with the hereditary chiefs.
As federal ministers and hereditary chiefs hammer out a deal, many of those blockades have come down, while others, often for short periods, have popped up in new locations.
Trudeau has been accused by the Conservatives of failing to act to stop the blockades from crippling the freight transportation network. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has called on Trudeau to direct the RCMP to step in and clear the blockades. Chrétien said Trudeau does not have that power.
"When there is a blockade, the prime minister has absolutely no authority," Chrétien said.
"It is the attorney general of the province who has the authority on the police. Quebec, they have their own provincial police. Ontario too.
"In B.C. it is the RCMP, but the RCMP is under the control of the attorney general of the province. Even the prime minister has not the right to [send] the army without a request from a premier of the province."