A local expert says the railway shutdown that started Wednesday evening will be detrimental to Prairie farmers.
“This is catastrophic to agriculture, to the province, in every facet,” Milt Miller of Providence Grain Solutions told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday morning.
“From the Edmonton region, down to Red Deer, across to the Saskatchewan border, there’s close to probably $17 million a day of grain deliveries being delivered to the various elevators and processing plants. All rely on rail to move it back out.”
Miller says the $17 million figure only accounts for money spent by producers to grow their crops and doesn’t include profits, adding farmers will be forced to store their crops during the shutdown.
“It’s going to pile up in the field. It’s going to go into grain storage on the farms.”
“When the farmer delivers, we write a check and pay him for the grain. So there’s a significant cost of not having it moved.”
Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City locked out 9,300 workers at 10:01 p.m. MT on Wednesday after the groups failed to agree on a new contract after months of negotiations.
The shutdown marks the first ever simultaneous stoppage at both of Canada’s national railways.
“This work stoppage is an employer driver work stoppage,” Christopher Monette of Teamsters Canada told CTV News Vancouver on Wednesday night. “It’s going to last as long as the companies want it to. The moment CN and CPKC decide they want a deal, we’re going to be able to get a breakthrough pretty quickly, but it’s up to them to show the flexibility, willingness to compromise.”
The companies haul a combined total of about $1 billion in goods each day, including an estimated $55 million in goods from Alberta alone.
Bargaining is expected to resume on Thursday.
Crew safety and fatigue are key issues for rail workers.
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nicole Lampa and CTV News Vancouver