Second day of CP Rail stoppage puts Ottawa under pressure as talks continue

Customers of CP Rail called on the federal government Monday to introduce back-to-work legislation as a work stoppage at the Calgary-based railway continued into its second day.

If the work stoppage at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. doesn’t end soon, southern Alberta feedlot operator James Bekkering says he and many of his counterparts will be facing a serious situation.

Due to last summer’s drought which dried up pastures across the Prairie province, western Canadian cattle producers have been dependent this winter on CP Rail shipments of imported corn from the U.S. to feed their animals.

If the work stoppage at the Calgary-based railway doesn’t end soon, Bekkering said he and many others will be out of livestock feed within one to three weeks.

“It’s got the anxiety levels up quite high among cattle feeders, for sure,” said Bekkering, who is also the chair of the National Cattle Feeders’ Association. “Any further delay, and we’re not looking forward to what happens when we run out. Because we don’t have a contingency plan.”

Bekkering and many other customers of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. called on the federal government Monday to introduce back-to-work legislation as a work stoppage at the Calgary-based railway continued into its second day.

Approximately 3,000 conductors, engineers and train and yard workers with CP Rail were off the job over the weekend. The company and the union representing the workers, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, both blamed each other for causing the work stoppage, though both also said they were still talking with federal mediators.

Those talks continued Monday in Calgary. Federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan was also on site.

“I don’t intend to leave until we have an agreement,” O’Regan said Monday. “I am optimistic, with people at the table and not leaving, that we will reach the deal that Canadians demand and want as soon as possible.”