Ottawa- Given the vast amounts of food and food inputs transported by rail in Canada, government policy needs to ensure their movement is declared an essential service and that future actions by either railways or workers never negatively affect the availability of food in any Canadian grocery store, says Stuart Smyth, associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 

The lockout of CN and CPKC workers on Aug. 22 after months of bargaining led Labour Minister Steven McKinnon to order the railways and the union to enter binding arbitration under the Canada Labour Relations Board.

Smyth said even a short strike would cost the economy hundreds of millions of dollars. “One of the arguments being made against the government’s request for binding arbitration is that implementing arbitration was illegal, as rail transportation isn’t an essential service. Under the Canadian Labour Board, rail is not deemed an essential service, hence the Teamsters Union were upset by this ruling to go to arbitration.

“While it’s possible to build credible arguments that the transportation of some products, such as automobiles or lumber might not be essential services, it’s not possible to make a similar argument for the transportation of food. Certainly, a great deal of food is transported by truck in Canada, but this accounts for food transportation once the product has arrived in Canada.”

Food products arriving at Canadian ports are moved by rail across the country for distribution, he said. “While a good portion of perishable and frozen products are moved by rail, the portion of non-perishable products moved by rail is even higher.”

If the railway strike has lasted even two weeks, grocery store shelves would have begun to be depleted of some products and would have been as empty as they were during the initial stages of the Covid lockdown.

“Given the geographic vastness of Canada, it’s cheaper to move food products by rail than it is by truck. It’s also faster. It’s very common to load rail cars, shipping off raw products and then later having the processed goods shipped, railed, or trucked back to us.”

Smyth said the federal government should be working to remove inter-provincial trade barriers, which are estimated to cost the national economy $32 billion per year. “Federal governments have made progress on reducing international trade barriers through various agreements over the past 20 years, yet inter-provincial trade barriers remain a substantial and unaddressed barrier.”

The barriers delay long-haul trucks and raise the cost of food by 8 to 14.5 per cent. “These truck transportation barriers mean that shifting food transportation from rail to truck isn’t an efficient option, as the time delays raise the cost of transporting food by truck.”

Rail transportation is essential to Canadians. “There have been numerous reports of the increase in the use of food banks in Canada. If rail strikes prevent the transportation of food, this can severely impact the operations of food banks.

“As a nation that produces far more food than it consumes, it’s inconceivable that labour strife would result in empty grocery store shelves and contribute to increasing the unacceptable levels of food insecurity that already exist in Canada.”

To ensure “Canadian food insecurity is not worsened due to labour battles, food transportation needs to be made an essential service in Canada. It is simply not possible to construct a logical argument in opposition to this.”

This news item prepared for National Newswatch.