The clock is ticking on a possible rail strike in Canada, with stakeholders across numerous industries warning of the wide-ranging impacts a work stoppage would have on the country’s economy.
Canadian National Railway (CN), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), and Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) have been locked in a standoff over a new collective bargaining agreement for months. Both CN and CPKC have issued lockout notices to the the TCRC if a deal can’t be reached by August 22, while the union issued a strike notice for that same deadline. Ahead of that deadline, Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon is meeting with the railways and the union to deliver what he calls a simple message.
“Get a deal at the table,” he said in an August 20 post to X. “Workers, farmers, businesses and all Canadians are counting on it.”
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If a work stoppage at Canada’s largest railways does come to pass, the fallout would be felt across North America, affecting ports, manufacturers, farmers and more. The Railway Association of Canada says that more than half of the country’s exports are moved by rail each year, in addition to 70% of its intercity surface freight, totaling $380 billion CAD ($279 billion USD) worth of goods annually. According to supply chain risk management platform Everstream Analytics, 66% of cargo arriving at the Port of Vancouver — Canada’s largest shipping hub — is moved by train, including fertilizer, iron ore, grain, cement, consumer goods, coal, cars and timber. In anticipation of a possible strike, Everstream says that carriers have already started diverting shipments away from Vancouver, with the number of vessels arriving at the port dipping by 22% since mid-July.
Grower coalition Pulse Canada estimates that 80-85% of the country’s agricultural products are also transported by rail, saying in a recent op-ed that it would take months to clear a backlog from even a brief work stoppage.
“Allowing these shipments to stop, for any length of time, is not only a threat to Canada’s economy but to global food affordability and security,” Pulse Canada president Greg Cherewyk said.
Farmers rely on Canada’s railways for a steady supply of fertilizer as well, with 75% of all fertilizer produced and used in the country moved by train, according to Fertilizer Canada (FC). FC says that Canada’s railways move an average of 69,000 metric tons of fertilizer a day, and that a work stoppage would cost the industry $55-63 million CAD a day in lost revenue and operational costs.
The Chemical Industry Association of Canada (CIAC) — which represents stakeholders in the chemical and plastics industries — has voiced similar concerns, warning that there are “no viable alternatives” for transporting hazardous chemicals during a work stoppage. In an August 9 release, the CIAC said that the Canadian chemistry sector moves more 500 rail cars a day, and that it would require 1,500 tanker trucks to handle that same load.
“There is no Plan B,” CIAC president and CEO Bob Masterson said, citing a lack of availability for trucks and drivers, and the fact that many chemicals can only be transported by rail “due to their hazardous nature.”
