Quebec business leaders call on Ottawa to end rail shutdown

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Disruptions from the Canada-wide freight rail stoppage were already being felt in the Montreal area Thursday morning, as the city’s commuter rail authority was forced to bring three lines to a halt.

Meanwhile, local business leaders were calling on the federal government to find a solution to end the shutdown as soon possible.

After months of negotiations, Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. locked out 9,300 workers as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday.

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Montreal’s commuter train authority, Exo, said it had no choice but to bring service on Line 11 (Vaudreuil/Hudson), Line 12 (St-Jérôme) and Line 14 (Candiac) to a halt because of the shutdown.

In an interview Thursday morning, Exo spokesperson Catherine Maurice said the authority tried to communicate with clients as best as possible this week but also had to work around the uncertainty of when or if the shutdown would happen.

Maurice said Exo employees have also been dispatched to each of the affected stations to greet commuters who weren’t aware the lines were suspended.

She believes the message mostly got across. At the Ste-Catherine station in St-Constant Thursday morning, for example, only about 40 commuters were present, she said. The parking lot serving the station has spots for 800 cars.

About 21,000 rides per day are taken on the three affected lines. The shutdown does not affect two Exo lines that use CN tracks — Mont-St-Hilaire and Mascouche.

Exo has said it is working on having alternative measures in place as of Monday. Since there aren’t enough buses available in Montreal to replace the number of cancelled trains, however, the measures “will focus on serving the majority of stations located outside the island of Montreal and Laval.”

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The authority is instead urging train users to use the métro and bus services of the Société de transport de Montréal and Société de transport de Laval.

Asked why Exo planned measures for Monday but not Thursday or Friday, Maurice again said the uncertainty of the shutdown complicated matters. And usually, fewer people use the service on those days, she added.

“We were faced with a work conflict that wasn’t yet confirmed, and putting in place a shuttle bus service  —  finding drivers, finding buses  —  takes a fair amount of time,” Maurice said.

The authority instead focused on having everything in place for Monday, she added, which coincides with back-to-school and is expected to be busy.

Maurice said Exo is communicating with both companies and the objective is “to be able to get our trains up and running as quickly as possible once the conflict is settled.”

Business groups stress need for shutdown to end

In a news release issued Thursday, the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal called for the federal government to intervene in order to find a solution, stressing the economic impact a prolonged rail stoppage could have.

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“In an already difficult economic context, this shutdown will quickly lead to shortages and price hikes, jeopardizing businesses and jobs,” president Michel Leblanc said in a statement.

“After (labour disputes) at the ports of Montreal and Vancouver, this new episode is weakening our companies and fuelling uncertainty among our economic partners as to Canada’s reliability as a place to do business,” Leblanc added.

Quebec’s Conseil du patronat, meanwhile, which represents business owners and employers in the province, also blamed the federal government for its role in the shutdown.

“The federal government cannot be surprised or disappointed; it is partly to blame, as this is the third dispute to paralyze supply chains since the election of the Liberal Party of Canada,” president and CEO Karl Blackburn said in a statement.

“The government has the tools to avert this catastrophic situation by requesting binding arbitration and implementing a long-term solution,” Blackburn added, “such as broadening the notion of essential services provided for in the law, in order to take into account the vital role of supply chain players.”

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