(file photo/CHATNewsToday)

By Tiffany Goodwein

Possible rail disruption coming at inopportune time says Cancarb president

Mar 18, 2022 | 5:11 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB- More than 3000 Canadian Pacific Railway locomotive engineers, conductors, train and yardpersons could walk of the job by Saturday night.

Canadian Pacific Railway says it has recieved strike notice from the union, the Teamsters Canada Rail conference.

The move comes after CP rail issued a 72-hour strike notice Wednesday

Some of the issues at hand include wages, benefits, pension and work rules.

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Industry groups have been calling on Ottawa to put a stop to a possible work stoppage.

Premier Jason Kenney also penned a letter yesterday urging the prime minister to protect Canada’s supply chain.

In Medicine Hat, Cancarb says they ship five to 10 containers of carbon black per day to the port of Vancouver and Montreal and a labour disruption of any kind could pose a major risk to their operations and global competitiveness. Company president Peter Donnelly says the labour dispute is coming at an ‘inopportune time’ given exporters have been faced with a series of disruptive events, starting with the CN rail strike in 2019, followed by the railblockades, and then the pandemic. The floods and fires in British Columbia last year also added to the compounding disruption.

“The signal that our customers in Asia and Europe get from us is that we are not a reliable supplier to them and we just can’t have that. It is very disruptive to our business, and to their business as well,” he said, noting 70 per cent of their product is exported outside North America.

Donnally reiterated that he hopes the federal government steps in to prevent any kind of rail disruption.

“It is very important to us to get our product to market for our business and for our employees, and I think it is very important for Canada and other Canadian exporters as well.