Edit: CN Rail and the Teamsters union have reached a tentative agreement, effective November 26
With the CN Rail strike entering its second week, farmers continue to pressure the government to intervene and end the strike. Fresh off of the October election, many farmers are questioning whether Prime Minister Trudeau understand the gravity of the situation for farmers.
For some Quebec farmers already facing propane shortages to heat barns and dry corn, asking wasn’t enough anymore and a group of farmers gathered at the prime minster’s Montreal office to dump corn on the doorstep. Others also drove tractors to Montreal to bring attention to the issue.
Sylvain Leroux, a farmer from St-Placide, Que., tweeted this picture of corn dumped on the doorstep of the Trudeau constituency office in Montreal:
— sylvain leroux (@5Leroux) November 25, 2019
Agriculture groups from across the country have been pleading with the federal government to intervene in the strike, saying that already risks to commodity exports and domestic shipments of grain and supplies like propane, are causing major economic harm to not just farmers, but the entire country. CN Rail says in an emailed statement that it is currently only operating at 10% of regular capacity.
If there is no action taken by the government to pressure CN and the union to agree to end the strike, farmers have said they intend to meet Wednesday on Parliament Hill, though this session of parliament is not currently in session and is not expected to begin sitting until December 5th.
Farmers dumped corn on the steps of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s constituency office in Montreal on Monday morning, to demand the government do something about the propane shortage caused by the CN Rail strike. pic.twitter.com/AUwP6ksczH
— CBC Montreal (@CBCMontreal) November 25, 2019