Unprecedented Canada-Wide Rail Shutdown Begins

Trains across the country have come to a standstill as 9,300 employees were locked out by Canada’s two primary rail companies after attempts to reach a new contract before the 12:01 a.m. EDT deadline failed.
The work stoppage marks the first-ever simultaneous work stoppage at Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), raising concerns about potential disruptions to supply chains.
The shutdown comes after months of negotiations between the railway companies and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, the union representing 6,000 CN workers and 3,300 CPKC workers.
The two sides bargained late into the night Aug. 21 at hotels in Montreal and Calgary before talks broke off shortly before midnight. Both sides have levelled accusations against the other for failing to be earnest in their negotiations.
CN said it came to the table with another offer of better wages and fewer hours.
Rail lines carry more than $1 billion worth of goods each day, according to the Railway Association of Canada. More than half of the country’s exports travel by rail.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the rail shutdown would harm millions of Canadians.
“This is an issue that we are following extremely closely and moving forward on in every way we can,” Trudeau said during an Aug. 21 press conference in Quebec.
“It is in the best interest of both sides to continue doing the hard work at the table to find a negotiated resolution. Millions of Canadian workers, farmers, and businesses right across the country are counting on both sides to do the work and get to a resolution.”
Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon has also been urging both sides to intensify their efforts to finalize an agreement. While MacKinnon has the authority to mandate binding arbitration between the union and railway companies, he has yet to indicate he will take such an action.
Economics expert Moshe Lander told The Epoch Times it is likely such an order will be issued if a deal is not reached in the next few weeks.
“Each day of a strike can result in days of backlogs,” he said on Aug. 20.
Affected industries include mining, energy, retail, automaking and construction. But it is the agriculture sector—particularly in Western Canada—that will be hit the hardest, Yunis said.
“With the harvest season underway, farmers rely on rail to transport crops to market,” he said. “A prolonged stoppage could result in shortages.”
Even a short strike could cause lengthy disruptions in some industries, he said, noting that the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association has said it takes “months” to fully recover from a strike.
He referenced the 13-day 2023 Vancouver Port strike, saying despite the less than two-week disruption, it took most supply chains four to six weeks to bounce back.
“The Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association estimated that shipment delays lasted two to three months,” he said.
Already, Canadian ports are worried containers will pile up on the docks as cargo goes unmoved, causing congestion down the line and prompting some carriers to reroute to U.S. terminals.
Lines affected by the potential work stoppage are TransLink’s West Coast Express in the Vancouver area, Exo’s Candiac, Saint-Jérôme and Vaudreuil/Hudson lines in the Montreal area and Metrolinx’s lines in the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton.
Metrolinx spokesperson Andrea Ernesaks told The Epoch Times the company’s Milton line and the Lakeshore line’s Hamilton GO station would be “temporarily suspended.”
“All other GO lines, the UP Express and Lakeshore West line stations would not be impacted,” she said. “Customers on the Milton corridor are encouraged to consider local transit options or access GO Transit services on the Lakeshore West or Kitchener corridors as an alternative.”