CENTRE WELLINGTON – The agri-food economy in Ontario is feeling the impact of CN Rail’s shut-down of services across the country and it won’t take long before the lack of movement of goods reaches the critical stage, say industry leaders.
Indeed, some would argue the situation is already critical.
“This is just one more thing in a year of challenges for pork producers,” said Eric Schwindt, chair of the board of directors for Ontario Pork.
“Canada exports 70 per cent of its pork and we rely on rail to get our product to B.C. and then on ships to China. We are so reliant on the export market. This (rail shut down) will have a huge impact on prices.”
Ontario Pork is one of 13 agriculture-based organizations that sent a joint letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Feb. 15 imploring the government to find a solution to the stand-off in British Columbia and get trains moving across the country again.
“The agri-food sector is the most significant driver of the Ontario economy – generating $48 billion in GDP and employing over 837,000 Ontarians,” the letter states.
“The rail stoppage is affecting everyone who relies on rail to provide essential goods and services to their community.”
The Wet’suwet’en Nation set up blockades in New Hazelton, B.C. in January to stop construction of a natural gas pipeline that is to run through traditional territory.
Since then solidarity blockades have been set up in various locations in Quebec, Alberta Saskatchewan and Ontario.
CN Rail shut down operations east of Toronto on Feb. 12 and Via Rail, which uses CN tracks, cancelled passenger train services across the country.
CN says protesters are either on the tracks or too close for trains to pass safely. CN has begun laying off workers until trains can roll again.
Schwindt said the pork industry ships about 1,000 containers of pork a week – representing about $81 million in weekly sales – and now the containers are backing up.
While some pork can be frozen and sold later, “freezer space is limited,” he said. “We’re starting to look at other markets to the south and shipping by truck. But that gets expensive.”
And while food is not being shipped to customers, neither are essential goods getting to farmers who need them, Schwindt said, such as propane to heat barns.
Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong brought it up on Feb. 24 in the legislature.
“Mr. Speaker, we are only a week away from widespread heating propane shortages,” he said while urging the government to step up enforcement.
“Hundreds of thousands of people could be without heat. People could freeze. Pipes will burst and homes will be damaged.”
China is a big importer of Ontario pork, and diplomatic relations between Canada and China have been strained for about a year due to the detainment and extradition hearing of Meng Wanzhou, an executive at Huawei Technologies Co., a Chinese multinational technology company.
And on top of everything else, the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in China earlier this year posed a real threat at shipping ports and slowed the transport of goods.
“The world is so much smaller today and the pork industry has been impacted in lots of ways. There’s been a strain on the market for over a year,” Schwindt said.
The open letter to Trudeau outlines challenges for other segments of the agriculture sector.
“Container movement of soybeans has ground to a halt. Ethanol plants have stopped accepting corn deliveries as there is no mechanism to move the ethanol out by rail…. It will take weeks to recover from the days of disruptions that have already taken place,” the letter states.
Signatories include: Beef Farmers of Ontario, Chicken Farmers of Ontario, Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, Egg Farmers of Ontario, Food and Beverage Ontario, Grain Farmers of Ontario, Mushrooms Canada, Ontario Agri Business Association, Ontario Bean Growers, Ontario Broiler, Hatching Egg & Chick Commission, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Turkey Farmers of Ontario, and Ontario Pork.
