Legault asks the federal government to intervene against a potential rail strike

Photo: Ryan Remiorz The Canadian Press “If there is no agreement by tomorrow, I ask Justin Trudeau to have the courage to take action. It is too important for the Quebec economy,” said François Legault.

Thomas Laberge – The Canadian Press in Quebec City

Published at 2:43 p.m.

• Quebec City

Although they hope that the railway sector labour dispute will be resolved before Thursday, several Quebec ministers are pressuring Ottawa to intervene if a strike or lockout should ever be triggered.

“I hope that the parties will reach an agreement by tomorrow, but if there is no agreement by tomorrow, I ask Justin Trudeau to have the courage to take action. “It's too important for Quebec's economy,” Premier François Legault said when he arrived at the National Assembly on Wednesday.

More than 9,000 workers at the country's two largest railway companies, Canadian National Railway Company (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Company (CPKC), could go on strike Wednesday night at midnight if no agreement is reached.

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CPKC workers have filed a strike notice that would see them walk off the job as of 12:01 a.m. Eastern time Thursday. CN, for its part, intends to lock out its employees at the same time, unless a settlement or binding arbitration is reached by then.

“Potentially devastating impacts”

The trains of these companies carry a combined $1 billion in goods every day, according to the Railway Association of Canada.

A situation that led the Minister of Labour, Jean Boulet, to say that the strike could have “potentially devastating impacts” on “the supply of goods and merchandise” in Quebec.

“We must not take the economy hostage,” he said, while assuring that he had confidence in the mediation process undertaken by the two parties concerned.

“The entire supply chain could be jeopardized. […] So it is certain that the parties must reach an agreement, and if not, we must have a federal government that will be agile to act quickly,” affirmed the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, André Lamontagne.

The Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, indicated that she was in communication with her federal counterpart, Pablo Rodriguez. “We want there to be an agreement between the two parties, but if this is not the case – because we are approaching the deadline for the strike – we want the federal government to put pressure and s 'invest even more to fix this problem,' she said.

“It's having a major impact. I think we need to sort this out by Thursday. I think the federal government will get involved. We had indirect discussions,” said the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon.