Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. locked out 9,300 engineers, conductors and yard workers after the parties disagreed on a new contract before the midnight deadline
MONTREAL — In a first for Canada, freight traffic on its two largest railways has simultaneously ground to a halt, threatening to upend supply chains trying to move forward from pandemic-related disruptions and a port strike last year.
The impasse also affects tens of thousands of commuters in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, whose lines run on CPKC-owned tracks. Passenger trains cannot run on those rails without the locked-out traffic controllers to dispatch them. Parties bargained late into the night Wednesday at hotels in Montreal and Calgary before talks broke off shortly before midnight."The railroads don't care about farmers, small businesses, supply chains or their own employees. Their sole focus is boosting their bottom line, even if it means jeopardizing the entire economy," claimed Teamsters president Paul Boucher in a statement early Thursday morning.
Affected industries include agriculture, mining, energy, retail, automaking and construction. U.S. railways have also had to turn away Canada-bound shipments.
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