(OTTAWA) – The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) welcomes the news the Minister of Labour will move quickly to address the current labour dispute between the Canadian National Railway and its workers. CFA urges the government and opposition parties to work together in reaching a solution. If the situation is not resolved within a week it could precipitate a major crisis for Canadian agricultural producers.

“This is not an exaggeration or alarmism. If certain key commodities, including feed grains and fertilizer, do not have the ability to get moving in very short order then producers will face some serious consequences,” said Bob Friesen, CFA President.

The labour dispute is causing prairie farmers economic harm, as they are unable to bring their grains to market. The most immediate concern is the movement of feed grains from inland terminals to feed mills in British Columbia. It is estimated the majority of those feed mills will run out of feed stock within one week if they are not resupplied from inland prairie grain terminals.  If the feed mills run out of stock it will result in a major crisis for BC livestock producers who will be unable to feed their animals. The lack of transportation is already beginning to cause congestion at the inland terminals. There is also a shortage of available trucks for transporting grains, limiting the feasibility of the only other means of transporting grains.

“We will see a major animal welfare crisis on BC’s farms and ranches if that grain does not start heading west again soon. The federal government must do everything in its power to get those trains moving,” said Garnet Etsell of the BC Agriculture Council.

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Founded in 1935 to provide Canada's farmers with a single voice in Ottawa, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture is the country's largest farmers' organization. Its members include provincial general farm organizations as well as national and inter-provincial commodity organizations from every province. Through its members, CFA represents over 200,000 Canadian farmers and farm families.