A Canadian food policy expert says the Canadian Pacific Rail labour dispute will further stress British Columbia’s already strained supply chain.
An estimated 3,000 unionized engineers, conductors and other train workers are currently off the job, which Dalhousie University Agri-Food Labs Director Sylvain Charlebois said could mean trouble for B.C. farmers.
Charlebois said farmers are entering the critical spring planting season, and have already faced price hikes and supply shortages of fertilizer because of the war in Ukraine. It’s a problem the rail stoppage will exacerbate.
“The other thing that this railway strike or lockout is doing also — it’s preventing a lot of farmers in B.C. from getting grain from the south,” he said.
“Since harvest wasn’t strong last year due to droughts, atmospheric rivers, all the problems we saw last year … all of these things really have made farmers buy more grains from the U.S., using CP Railway, which is likely not going to happen as much now.”
On the consumer side, Charlebois said grocery store shelves may not be affected, unless the labour dispute drags on for more than a week.
“My guess is that it won’t, but you never know,” he said.
“Beyond eight days, we’re going to start seeing some empty shelves, for sure. But if it ends within the next few days, we should be fine.”
Consumers are also unlikely to notice a spike in prices in the short-term, he said, as most product currently making it to market would have previous circumstances priced-in.
However, he said the dispute — particularly if it drags on — could have a longer-term effect on prices.
Farmers facing a grain shortage may seek to sell off their inventory early, leading to meat shortages, and ensuing higher prices later in the year.
The work stoppage will also likely set CP’s schedules back significantly, potentially leading to longer-term supply issues that could push prices up.
“In 2019, CN (Rail) was on strike for eight days and it took the railway almost three months to get back on schedule, ” he said.
CP Rail issued a lockout notice to unionized workers on Wednesday, after which the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference responded with its own strike notice.
The union and CP remain at odds over 26 contract issues, including wages, benefits and pensions.
The office of federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan said in a statement that while the work stoppage had begun both parties were still at the bargaining table with mediators and it expected “the parties to keep working until they reach an agreement.”
— With files from Global’s Sean Boynton
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