Article By: Rick Walker, Vice President, TradeInsights, LCB/CCS

Canada Labor Minister Steve MacKinnon is meeting with representatives of Canadian National, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference and federal mediators in a push to get the sides to reach agreement on a new contract. MacKinnon on Tuesday was scheduled to be in Montreal where CN has its headquarters and Wednesday in Calgary, Alberta, home base of CPKC. Canada’s labor-affiliated New Democratic Party, a key supporter of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s liberal government, said it opposes any federal intervention in the negotiations.

Canada’s two main rail carriers have stated that they “remain focused on and committed to arriving at a negotiated outcome that is in the best interests of all our railroaders and their families. We are firmly committed to staying at the bargaining table to reach renewed agreements.”

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, Canada’s largest West Coast port, anticipates disruption to the port’s rail service starting 12:01 a.m. ET on Thursday, Aug. 22—following the Canadian railroads CN and CPKC, as well as the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) union, issuing their 72-hour strike notices on Monday.

We will continue to monitor this situation and provide updates as needed.

Please contact your V. Alexander account team, or you may also contact our Trade Compliance team at tradeinsights@valexander.com with any questions.