“We are extremely concerned about the labour disruption at our country’s two largest railways, CN and CPKC. This stoppage will have devastating impacts on Canada’s economy, Canadian families and communities across this country.
“Each day this disruption continues will have far-reaching and extremely costly impacts on our economy, hurting workers, businesses, farmers and families across the country. This disruption is already affecting the more than $1 billion in goods, including half of Canada's exports, that are normally shipped by rail everyday.
“As harvest season begins and farmers look to get their product to market, the stoppage will affect not only those shipping agricultural products, it will hurt Canada’s standing as important partner in global food security. It will also further damage our international reputation as a reliable trading partner and place to do business.
“A prolonged work stoppage will also back up and severely bottleneck other transportation modes such as ports, warehouses and long-haul trucking operations. Even after a rail work stoppage ends, it takes significant time for the other modes to clear the backlogs and resume normal operations. This means disruptions, delays and increased costs on goods for Canadians.
“While we respect the collective bargaining process, the collateral damage to Canadians, our businesses and our country’s international reputation is too high to allow the simultaneous disruption of both of these railways to continue.
“The federal government must urgently intervene with binding arbitration or reconvene Parliament to immediately pass back-to-work legislation.”