Under the Agridome

Editor's Note: The changing conditions and uncertainty with the railway/union dispute late last week and into the weekend led to the delay of publishing this column by DTN on its usual Friday so it may be updated with the latest developments.

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It is that time of year again. It's late August and even in southwestern Ontario you can feel a bit of chill in the air especially when the sun goes down. It is the time when summer seems to be coming to an end even though we've got another month left.

Usually in southwestern Ontario we see soybeans ripening at this time of year. This year because of the widespread replant earlier this spring there is none of that. However, there is much going on. You can almost feel change in the air.

There has certainly been a lot going on in the news this past week to keep everyone busy. The biggest news that was affecting agriculture was the possible strike at Canada's two major railroads. This turned into an actual lockout early last Thursday after midnight.

Then, late Thursday afternoon, our federal government ordered the parties to binding arbitration to force workers back to work. However, Friday it was still a bit unclear as the work stoppage continued for Canadian Pacific Kansas City.

Then, on Friday, Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) served noticed to strike against CN with a 72-hour notice to begin Aug. 26.

On Saturday, CN reported on its website that the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) -- which is imposing binding arbitration between the company and union -- has "ordered that no further labour stoppage, including a lockout or strike, can occur during the arbitration process. This means that the strike notice recently issued to CN by the Teamsters is now voided."(https://www.cn.ca/…)

As well on Saturday, CPKC announced -- based on the CIRB order -- it also would restart its operations "by 00:01 ET on Monday, Aug. 26" and employees would resume its duties.

"CPKC has asked the TCRC for employees to return to work for the day shift on Sunday so that we can get the Canadian economy moving again as quickly as possible and avoid further disruption to supply chains. The CIRB will be convening a case management meeting with the parties Thursday, Aug. 29, to discuss the imposition of final binding interest arbitration. As specified in the CIRB's order, the existing collective agreements between the company and the union are in force.

"Our team is executing its restart plan for the safe and orderly resumption of rail service across Canada. We are working with customers on a balanced return to normal operations," CPKC stated.

Also on Saturday, the TCRC wrote online an update. "The Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) has ruled to allow federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to end job action in Canada's rail sector and impose binding arbitration.

"The union will lawfully comply with the CIRB decision. The Teamsters will also appeal the ruling to federal court." (https://www.teamstersrail.ca/…)

There's lots of blame to go around but at the end of the day here we are. It's just one of those things.

For me farming here in southwestern Ontario doing all the usual things Ontario farmers do in late August, there wasn't much angst regarding a Canadian railroad strike. Our harvest is still about five or six weeks away but in Western Canada it is ramping up almost everywhere and you could just imagine the anxiety that was going on through Western Canadian farm country. For now, it continues.

As it is, it wouldn't be fair for me to leave it there. The threat of a strike had grain bids being pulled over the last several days. It's completely obvious why: Buyers didn't really want grain which they couldn't move. At the same time, it also affected the futures market today with wheat prices tanking once again. Sure, some of that is the non-commercial interests doing what they do, but it was also the spectre of Canadian grain piling up and not being able to be moved.

Keep in mind that it's easy to blame politics for this situation, especially if you are in Western Canada. However, remember we don't do politics here. Let's just say it's a very complicated situation. You could argue that the government forcing the parties to binding arbitration about 12 hours after the workers were locked up is an indictment of government inaction. Or, you could argue it the other way. From a farmer's perspective, it almost seems like everybody else's rights are being respected except theirs. That just might be idle speculation, as we wait for rail cars to move again.

I also don't want to discount the problems that have been caused for Western Canadian farmers by the spectre of a strike, then a lockout, an apparent settlement, another threat of strike, and so on. The disruption is very trying for farmers.

You know, Canada is a very big country, and this makes it so very complicated. You've heard me say this before, but Canadian agriculture is really made up of three distinct "countries" with their own unique geography, culture, agricultural production systems and language. This is Western Canada, Ontario and Quebec. Generally speaking, when we think about moving grain in Ontario and Quebec, we never think about railcars. However, in Western Canada it is the lifeblood of moving grain. It's one example how we are so different. We are all Canadian, so even though there might have been a collective shrug in eastern Canada to the railroad situation, it needed to be dealt with quickly.

It goes to show you how important supply chain is. You might remember during the COVID pandemic how we had such problems with the supply of so many agricultural inputs. Of course, we can look back on that now and say that it was created by the vagaries of the pandemic. The railroad situation was different because we were specifically dealing with infrastructure shutting down because of the labour dispute. Hopefully this episode won't be lengthy, as there could have been all kinds of supply shortfall everywhere in Canada and parts of the United States.

You might also argue the situation is constantly fluid. There is always the age-old problem in Western Canada of moving grain in the first place. There are always issues with getting enough railcars when they are needed. There are also issues with running trains at minus 40-degree temperatures in the wintertime. The big railroad issue might be over for the moment, but it's really never over in Western Canada.

The focus now should be a solution. The Western Canadian harvest will be difficult for some, better for others just like it is everywhere. Frost last week and cold weather just made people a little bit more nervous. Will we look back at Christmas and laugh? I don't think so, this thing is hard. Let's hope for better rail transportation ahead.

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The views expressed are those of the individual author and not necessarily those of DTN, its management or employees.

Philip Shaw can be reached at philip@philipshaw.ca

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