Potential rail strike threat hanging over Saskatchewan harvest

Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister David Marit said on Monday the province is very concerned over the possible strike or lockout of workers at CN Rail and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC).

Around 9,300 conductors, engineers and yard workers at the two rail companies have been bargaining over new collective agreements for months. Both companies have said they will lock out workers on Aug. 22 if an agreement is not reached.

Marit told reporters that the effects of a disruption could be huge for Saskatchewan and that the province was disappointed in the federal decision to not deem rail an essential service.

“We have sent letters in regards to that — the rail service in this country should be deemed an essential service,” Marit said.

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Marit said he’s hopeful the railways and the unions get back to the bargaining table or go to binding arbitration if necessary.

“This will have a great impact, not only on the farmers and ranchers here in the province of Saskatchewan, but the whole entire economy,” he said.

“When we are an exporting nation like we are — especially this province exporting commodities around the world — we’re very concerned about our trade relationships with other countries.”

Marit said companies around the world have expressed concerns to him about getting products on time to their processing facilities.

The province said it has increased its agri-food exports for four straight years. Shipments totalled $20.2 billion in 2023.

Marit said a strike or lockout could back up movement of goods and prevent farmers from fulfilling their delivery contracts, as well as congesting terminals and ports.

Dale Heenan, a farmer south of Grand Coulee, agreed that rail service should be deemed essential.

Heenan said that a strike or lockout can be as short as a week or even a day but it could still back things up for a month, with effects that last the whole year.

“It backs everything up, and we don’t know how long it could be,” Heenan said.

Marit said it was too early to project crop insurance payouts but said crops looked to be in good condition based on his travels across the province.

“Obviously, there’s going to be some stress with the heat we’ve had and we’ve seen some of the volumes drop a bit but until we see the final numbers … we really don’t know where it’s at right now,” Marit said.

“Obviously, we’re hopeful that it will be significantly less than last year.”

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