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OTTAWA – A coalition of business groups is calling on the federal government to prevent a work stoppage at Canada’s two biggest railways.

A phased shutdown of the networks at Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. is already underway as the clock ticks down on contract talks with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference.

Unless deals are reached, rail service at both companies is poised to stop at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Thursday.

In a joint statement Wednesday, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada, Canadian Federation of Independent Business and Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters say Ottawa needs to take action to ensure the continuation of rail services.

They say the federal labour minister can refer the dispute to the Canada Industrial Relations Board for binding arbitration and prohibit a strike, lockout or end any ongoing stoppage pending a resolution.

Alternatively, the business groups suggest the government use back-to-work legislation.

Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon has repeatedly stressed that the parties must hammer out a deal themselves rather than rely on federal intervention, such as back-to-work legislation.

The job action by a total of 9,300 employees at both CN and CPKC would be unprecedented, marking the first-ever simultaneous work stoppage at the country’s biggest rail companies, experts say.

Their trains haul a combined $1 billion worth of goods per day, from canola to consumer electronics, according to the Railway Association of Canada.

The U.S.-based CSX and Norfolk Southern railways have closed their gates to most cross-border shipments, while shipping giants such as Hapag-Lloyd have made “contingency plans” as others reroute cargo.

More than 32,000 rail commuters across the country will also have to find new routes to the office if there is a work stoppage at CPKC.

Transit authorities have said select commuter lines that run on CPKC tracks in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver will be suspended should dispatchers walk off the job.

The commuter lines affected by the potential work stoppage are TransLink’s West Coast Express in the Vancouver area, Metrolinx’s Milton line and the Lakeshore line’s Hamilton GO station in the Greater Toronto Area, and Exo’s Candiac, Saint-Jérôme and Vaudreuil/Hudson lines in the Montreal area.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 21, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:CNR, TSX:CP)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Canada watches for defence details at convention

Canada’s ambassador to the United States says the country is looking for an administration willing to deepen its defence relationships as NATO allies watch closely to see what the Democratic National Convention may reveal about how Kamala Harris could approach foreign policy.

Kirsten Hillman expects Harris to follow President Joe Biden’s lead on defence but says the vice-president has had a different emphasis in her approach: focusing on the Western Hemisphere.

What will be essential for any president, Hillman added, is to continue defence partnerships and expand opportunities for production co-operation with Canada.

Hillman was speaking on a panel about NATO on Tuesday with U.K. Ambassador Karen Pierce and Estonian Ambassador Kristjan Prikk on the sidelines of the convention in Chicago.

Canada pledges $5.7M in aid for Ukrainian children

International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen says Canada will provide $5.7 million for Ukrainians to meet their basic needs.

Ottawa says it’s maintaining solidarity with Ukraine two-and-a-half years into Russia’s full-scale invasion as Hussen visits Kyiv.

The trip has a focus on children, with Hussen visiting the main children’s hospital, which was damaged by a Russian missile in July.

The funding includes $2 million for Save the Children Canada, which has helped Ukrainian kids with food, education and psychosocial support.

Another $3.5 million will go toward medical and mental-health services provided by International Medical Corps UK, and $200,000 is set aside for the UN humanitarian service.

Heat, drought behind 2023 wildfires, says study

The largest study of Canada’s catastrophic 2023 wildfire season concludes it is “inescapable” that the record burn was caused by extreme heat and parching drought, while adding the amount of young forests consumed could make recovery harder.

And it warns that the extreme temperatures seen that year were already equivalent to some climate projections for 2050.

“It is inescapable that extreme heat and moisture deficits enabled the record-breaking 2023 fire season,” says the study, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

That season burned 150,000 square kilometres — seven times the historical average — forced 232,000 Canadians from their homes and required help from 5,500 firefighters from around the world, as well as national resources and the military. Smoke drifted as far as western Europe.

Manitoba Tory announces bid for leadership

Former provincial cabinet minister and pro football player Obby Khan is launching a bid for the leadership of Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative party.

Khan says people have been asking him to run for the party helm, and he wants to rebuild the party’s connection with Manitobans.

Khan is the first candidate in the race to replace Heather Stefanson, who announced her decision to step down after the party lost last year’s election to the NDP.

The leadership is to be decided next April 26, and candidates have until Oct. 15 to enter the race.

Ontario survey reveals youth mental health decline

More than half of middle and high school students in Ontario say they’re experiencing a significant level of psychological distress, a figure that has doubled over the past decade, new research shows.

The survey of more than 10,000 students in grades 7 to 12 highlights a “worrying” decline in youth mental health, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto said Wednesday.

Data collected from 235 schools across Ontario between November 2022 and June 2023 also shows that 19 per cent of surveyed students engaged in self-harm, and 18 per cent had serious thoughts about suicide in the previous year.

“The picture is that students are struggling,” Hayley Hamilton, the survey lead and co-director of CAMH’s institute for mental health policy research, said in an interview.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published August 21, 2024

Note to readers: REMOVES extraneous line

WINNIPEG – Former provincial cabinet minister and pro football player Obby Khan is launching a bid for the leadership of Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative party.

Khan says people have been asking him to run for the party helm, and he wants to rebuild the party’s connection with Manitobans.

Khan is the first candidate in the race to replace Heather Stefanson, who announced her decision to step down after the party lost last year’s election to the NDP.

The leadership is to be decided next April 26, and candidates have until Oct. 15 to enter the race.

Khan played in the Canadian Football League for nine seasons and, after being elected to the Manitoba legislature in 2022, was named minister of sport, culture and heritage.

The Tories’ election campaign last year stirred up controversy over advertisements about a landfill search for murdered women and a promise to protect “parental rights.”

Khan did not want to discuss those issues in an interview this week.

“I will be addressing those as we go forward,” Khan said. “I think right now, the focus is on working and looking forward on how we can bring ideas (and) energy to a new generation of Manitobans.”

The Tories hold 21 seats in the legislature. The governing New Democrats hold 35, and the Liberals have one.

Although the Tories finished a close second in the popular vote in the election, they fared poorly in Winnipeg, where most legislature seats are. The party faced another electoral setback in June, when it lost the Tuxedo seat in Winnipeg that had been vacated by Stefanson and had been a Tory stronghold.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 21, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.