Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government isn’t taking the shutdown of Canada’s railways lightly.
Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City shut down services at midnight, locking out more than nine-thousand members of the Teamsters Union.
Trudeau says his government will have more to say shortly on what it’s doing “to make sure that the right solution is found quickly for the economy.”
He says that the stoppage is something that has an impact right across the country, from workers, to businesses, to farmers, to consumers.
The railways move a combined one billion dollars worth of goods per day, and experts say there will shortly be disruptions in Canada’s supply chains for just about everything.
Meanwhile, Alberta’s Premier has also weighed in on the labour disruptions at CN and CPKC.
Smith says the work stoppage – which kicked off at 12:01 am on August 22nd and impacts around 9,000 workers at the two rail giants – is of great concern.
The stoppage will devastate Canada’s economy, and families and communities across Canada, according to Smith.
As harvest season begins and farmers look to get their products to market, Smith says the stoppage will affect those shipping agricultural products and hurt Canada’s standing as an important partner in global food security.