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Thankfully, that strike is over

The weeklong CN Rail strike is over, and now we can get back to the important business of running the nation’s economy. When we get a strike like this, it reminds us of the important role that the transportation industry plays in our economy.

The weeklong CN Rail strike is over, and now we can get back to the important business of running the nation’s economy.

When we get a strike like this, it reminds us of the important role that the transportation industry plays in our economy. We might complain about trains and how frustrating they are when they rumble through the community at the absolutely worst possible time, such as when we’re on our way to work or on our way home, and it seems like they always have the worst possible timing.

But they play a vital role in the transportation of goods to market, whether it be through CP Rail, CN Rail or short-line railways.

During the strike, we heard a lot about how much this strike was hurting Quebec. Suddenly, Quebec had a significant propane shortage that was going to affect everything from agriculture to hospitals. It became a big talking point during the strike. A shipment of propane was even sent to Quebec to help them survive this self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Frankly, we think a little more attention should have been paid to the plight of Saskatchewan that this strike caused.

Quebec farmers were hurt. So were Saskatchewan farmers.

For many farmers in this province, 2019 has been a year from hell. It brought a late seeding season, a difficult growing season and an incredibly rough and soggy harvest.

Some producers have flooded acres. Others have crops that are still in the field. Many of them took a hard hit on crop quality due to the frequent delays during harvest.

They’re going to be taking a much bigger hit financially than the CN Rail employees who were on strike for a week. And the last thing they needed after a harvest like this was to have uncertainty of getting their crops to market due to the strike.

We’re not sure whether we’re going to see a repeat of recent years, such as 2018, when there were considerable issues with shipping Canadian products to market. But this was another headache that Saskatchewan and other Prairie province producers didn’t need.

Agriculture is taking a hard hit, but there are other industries that suffered when CN Rail employees were off the job for a week.

When we get a work stoppage like this, the question often turns to essential services, and whether back to work legislation needs to be enacted. Nobody would question whether trains, trucks and the postal service play a vital role in the economy. The question is just how essential they really are.

Are they essential enough that any strike action should be met with back to work legislation? Essential enough that employees should lose an important part of the bargaining process with a large corporation?

A lot of people world argue yes.

And if they can’t strike, then obviously the employer shouldn’t be allowed to lock them out, either.

We received a reminder of just how important shipments by rail are, not just for Quebec or Saskatchewan, but for the entire country. And it will take a while to get everything back on schedule, even though they were only off work for a week.

CP Rail went through a strike a couple of years ago. We didn’t miss the trains rolling through Estevan for the short work stoppage, but it hurt the economy as a whole. We also had to endure the rotating strikes by Canada Post employees last year.

How many more times will we have to find ourselves in this situation?