With over 9,200 rail workers currently on strike around Canada Nova Scotia’s Agriculture Minister is calling for federal intervention.
“I have no dog in the fight in the labour dispute, I stand for Nova Scotian farmers,” said Agriculture Minister Greg Morrow. “This is a challenge they don’t need right now and the federal government has the tools to end it, binding arbitration being one.”
Morrow says that farmers rely on rail transit every day to deliver things like fuel and feed, and without they will either have to do without or pay a premium for goods shipped using more expensive methods.
On the flip side, a large portion of Nova Scotian produce is typically shipped out of the province to other markets which is also being impacted by the strike.
Morrow says that every day Nova Scotian produce cant be shipped out of province to other markets it’s costing farmers thousands of dollars. “When your talking about food there’s never a good time, but with the fall harvest coming up it’s even more important that we see action taken quickly,” Morrow said.
According to the Railway Association of Canada, CN and CPKC haul a combined $1 billion in goods each day.
The latest news on negotiations is that parties bargained late into the night Wednesday in Montreal and Calgary before talks broke off shortly before midnight.
