How Alberta's reliance on rail shipments prompts unease amid labour uncertainty

There's still much to be determined around how and when a labour dispute involving Canada's two main rail companies — Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) — will fully resolve.

On Friday morning, the Teamsters union served CN with a 72-hour strike notice. It came one day after federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to impose binding arbitration.

The path ahead is still uncertain. But the haziness has, for days, prompted government officials, agricultural associations and industry organizations to warn of the outsized impact of a prolonged rail shutdown, especially in Western Canada.

About three quarters of all commodities moved by rail came from Western Canada in 2022, according to Statistics Canada data. 

And excluding commodities loaded in Mexico and the United States but transported by Canadian rail carriers in Canada, Alberta leads the pack.

The province accounted for more than 25 per cent of the total weight of commodities shipped by rail within Canada in 2022, according to Statistics Canada. That's the most recent data available.

Matt Jones, Alberta's minister of jobs, economy and trade has estimated that the rail shutdown will impact at least $55 million of Alberta exports per day.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith met with federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon on Wednesday, writing on X, formerly Twitter, that she reiterated Alberta's "grave concerns" about the possibility of the railways shutting down.

"This stoppage will have a disastrous effect on Canada's and Alberta's economies. It will shut down the movement of essential goods right across North America and will cause food and supply shortages for all of us," Smith wrote on X.

Whether it's the price of food or the price at the pump, here's a look at how a rail shutdown could impact the Alberta economy.

The timing of this dispute is weighing particularly heavily on the shoulders of Alberta's farmers, who are in the midst of harvest.

Approximately 95 per cent of Canadian grain is transported by rail. 

Stephen Vandervalk farms near Fort Macleod, Alta., and is the vice-president of the Wheat Growers Association.

He said he was in "disbelief" at the way the situation had played out.