It was another heated question period in the House of Commons today (Thurs) with the on-going rail blockades that have popped up across the country including one near Belleville, Ontario. Conservative MP Leonna Alleslev accused the Trudeau government of holding the economy hostage. She says the blockades are another example of “Canada signalling to the world that we are closed for business”.

Bill Blair, Federal Minister of Public Safety was in the hot seat for the absent Justin Trudeau. He said the federal government is continuing to work on a resolution to the protests adding that his Liberals are working to address the blockades as quickly and peaceful as possible. The blockade near Belleville has been set up for nearly two weeks while a rail blockade that was set up near Edmonton earlier this week has since been dismantled.

Via Rail began service again in select communities in eastern Canada Thursday including London, Ontario. Both CN and Via have temporarily laid-off employees due to the on-going protests.