Axe-Wielding Assailants: In Handling Long-Running BC Pipeline Protests Vs Ottawa Anti-Mandate Protests, the Double Standard Is Obvious

Damaged heavy machinery is shown near Houston, B.C., in this Feb. 17, 2022, RCMP handout photo. RCMP say they are investigating a violent attack by a group of about 20 people armed with axes against equipment and workers building the Coastal GasLink pipeline in northern B.C. (The Canadian Press/HO, RCMP)

Commentary

As police forces amassed this week in Ottawa to take action against a protest marked by the presence of bouncy castles, flag-waving, and dancing, upwards of 20 armed extremists attacked a remote B.C. pipeline construction site.

Millions of dollars in damage were wrought in the attack on the Coastal GasLink (CGL) site and a police officer was injured. Security personnel were threatened by axe-wielding assailants while trees were downed across the road and traps were placed in order to block police from attending the scene. With such a bold and dangerous attack, it is fortunate that nobody was killed.

Meanwhile, legacy media remained focused on covering the remarkably peaceful arrests of organizers within the Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa. Parliament has been shut down though there has been absolutely no violence to be found, and the civil rights of citizens have been suspended.

The peaceful albeit annoying protests in Ottawa have been going on for three weeks now. The federal government has acted relatively swiftly and intends to implement the Emergencies Act in order to rout the protesters. A national state of emergency has been declared and the government wants the ability to carry out actions as extreme as forcing labour by tow truck operators, seizing the bank accounts of supporters, and arresting hundreds if not thousands of people.

The increasingly violent protests and actions against the CGL pipeline project in B.C. have been going on for well over two years now. Police actions have been required numerous times as outside activists continue to impede and threaten a project supported by no less than 20 local First Nations communities.

While arrests have been made over the course of the CGL protests, charges against those detained have been either light or dropped. So they just keep coming back and blocking the project over and over again.

Support protests sprang up across the nation when activists were arrested for blocking the CGL project in 2020. The federal government sat on their hands while railway lines and other critical infrastructure were blocked and trains were attacked with burning pallets for weeks. Only the appearance of COVID-19 really brought those protests to an end.

While tens of millions of dollars from foreign sources have been pumped into environmental groups opposing pipeline projects, there has been no effort on the part of the government to track and seize those funds, much less the bank accounts of the donors.

A protester offers free hugs in Ottawa on Feb. 12, 2022. (Noé Chartier/The Epoch Times)

The CGL protests have been left alone to fester and become more extreme for years, despite warning signs indicating things were going to go badly if this is ignored for much longer.

Two of the organizers of the Freedom Convoy have been charged with counselling to commit various offences due to their involvement in the Ottawa protests. They have never tried to incite violence. Yet CBC icon David Suzuki endured nothing more than pressure to apologize when he recklessly said last November that “pipelines will be blown up” if politicians don’t act on climate change.

With such a visible and gross double standard on the part of the federal government when it comes to dealing with protesters, is it really that shocking to see extremists feeling so emboldened as to violently attack a worksite? The government has offered little more than grovelling efforts of capitulation in the CGL protests, but they are working to impose the most aggressive form of legislation in their entire arsenal against convoy protesters in Ottawa. Of course the extremists in opposition to the CGL project feel a sense of impunity.

The attack on the construction site in B.C. was well-coordinated and planned. It wouldn’t be surprising if the assailants, who were masked and struck in the middle of the night, chose this timing because police resources have been directed East right now. They knew they likely wouldn’t be caught or charged.

The Trudeau Liberals had better figure out how to walk and chew gum here. They can no longer ignore the acts of violence in B.C. while they are deeply invested in crushing the peaceful gatherings in Ottawa.

We are seeing the symptoms of a nation under a government that has lost all control, along with the respect of its citizens. Extreme activists of all kinds will be testing and surpassing the limits of the law in the days to come. I hope that security at the ongoing Fairy Creek protests on Vancouver Island isn’t lacking right now.

The motto of Canada is “Peace, order and good government.” We aren’t seeing any of that at the moment.

This national mess is entirely of the government’s making, and they have lost far too much national trust to easily get out of it now.

Good government requires the equal application of the law. Until that happens, we won’t see any peace or order.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.