CN Rail strike prompts frustration from farmers
Posted November 25, 2019 6:44 pm.
Last Updated November 25, 2019 6:48 pm.
MONTREAL – The strike by more than three-thousand CN Rail workers has stalled commodities and frustrated farmers who rely on propane to dry their grain and heat their barns and greenhouses.
The sense of urgency around the week-long strike’s ripple effects continues to grow.
Today, hundreds of Quebec farmers marched through the streets of Montreal alongside a convoy of tractors to dump heaps of corn at the steps of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s riding office.
They’re calling on Ottawa to resolve the labour stoppage that has idled trains across the country.
Pascal Leduc, a corn producer from north of Montreal, says half his crop lies in the fields because a full silo prevents him from harvesting it while winter snows threaten to blanket it and leave the yield unusable.
He says he doesn’t want to lose his crop.
On another front, Canada’s largest potash mine announced today it will temporarily shut down and lay off 550 employees as a result of the strike.
Fertilizer giant Nutrien has notified workers that its mine in southeastern Saskatchewan will halt operations for two weeks starting December 2nd.
The vast majority of the Rocanville mine’s product is shipped by C-N Rail, which is now operating at 10 per cent capacity.
The announcement comes two days after news broke of 70 short-term layoffs at C-N’s auto terminal in the Halifax area due to halted car shipments.
