I think the federal government will step in and order them (CP) back to work. This is an especially bad time for the railroad not to be operating (as if there ever wasn’t one)

The federal government has done that during eight of the last nine collective bargaining rounds Canadian Pacific has had with the union.

There are calls to declare them an essential service and deny them the right to strike.

I agree

Actually, CP threatened to lock them out. The union has called the strike because of that.

The company is just forcing the government to step in with an arbitrator.

The usual stuff.

After the holdup at the Ambassador bridge for a week of supplies needed, and the talk of sticking with in-country manufacturing, CP will be worried about increased concern re supply chain interruptions.

This is also important now that manufacturing planning re electrically powered vehicles is being set up and as they are much less complicated than using internal combustion engines, the manufacturing process will be less complicated, so simplifying the supply chain.

Anyone for prolonged partially empty store shelves?

ole joyful

lonejack, do you know what parts of the US depend on this rail line for fertilizer? I'm wondering from your comment if fertilizer from Canada is shipped the long distance to California.

Elmer - The fertilizer from Canadian Pacific and Canadian National is shipped nationwide in the US. It's mostly Potash and some Nitrogen as well. Both RRs have multiple border crossings into the US all along the CA/US border from BC to Quebec and interchange to BNSF, UP, CSX, and NS. In the US, CP lines go all the way south to Kansas City and interchange to other RRs from there so I would guess that many of the major corn and soy bean producing states are served from CP origins in Canada. CN directly serves areas further east in a Chicago to New Orleans corridor. I'd imagine western states get their fertilizer via interchanges from CP or CN to UP or BNSF at border crossings further west.

So basically only 1/2 of the Canadian rail service is disrupted from this strike but those customers served directly or indirectly by CP may feel the pain if it lasts very long.

The Canadian Agriculture sector just had a news conference on cpac about how this will affect them and those in other countries. Question and answer period at the end. https://youtu.be/CrwwjtVJCi8

I listened to some of it. A speaker at the beginning repeated his comments in French (appropriately enough) and his pronunciation was horrendous.

Thanks for your response, lonejack. The speakers in the linked video seemed to suggest that there would be problems for cattle ranchers and grain production. I still wonder how much of the fertilizer issue affects ag in my state, where i believe very little in the way of grain crops (aside from rice) are grown.

Well, it is being reported that Canadian Pacific and the TCRC union have agreed to binding arbitration and CP will resume normal operations today.

I think this is a smart move by both parties as a long, lingering strike would likely result in great economic losses and hardship across all of North America and stress the supply chain even more.

Elmer - if Potassium (K) is used as agriculture inputs in your state, which is certain, at least some of it likely would have come from Canada. The US imports about 90% of its K needs and around 83% of that is from Canadian sources in Saskatchewan. Most of the K production in the US comes from mines in Utah and New Mexico and may be where California sources some of its needs.

LoneJack, this is how it usually turns out. I was giving it until Thursday but I think this is a particularly bad time for the railroad to be out and it just made it a bit more urgent.

LOL, now everybody is calling the crew office and seeing how many times out they are on the board and if they can use this past week toward their holiday time. 😀

Good news for the economy!