Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in talks over the weekend with federal cabinet ministers as protesters opposed to a pipeline project in British Columbia continued to halt train service across parts of the country.
Trudeau’s spokeswoman Chantal Gagnon said Sunday the prime minister had already spoken to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Transport Minister Marc Garneau, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair and Carolyn Bennett, the minister for Crown-Indigenous Relations.
Gagnon said Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller also briefed Trudeau about his hours-long meeting Saturday with representatives of the Mohawk First Nation near Belleville, Ont., where a rail blockade has shut down train service across much of Eastern Canada.
Gagnon did not reveal what Miller told the prime minister, and said the government would provide updates as they become available.
The Trudeau government has been criticized for not doing more to end the blockades, which have been erected to protest the Coastal GasLink project in northern B.C., which is part of a $40-billion LNG Canada export project in Kitimat.
Tyendinaga Chief Donald Maracle said he was not involved in Saturday’s talks and declined comment. Members of the First Nation at the blockade declined comment.
Miller said in an interview with The West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson on Sunday that at the end of Saturday’s meeting “a bit of confidence” had been built.
“This is something that’s fluid, and is moving on an hourly basis,” Miller said. “But we remain committed and engaged to resolve this in a peaceful way.”
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