A Toronto-area rail consultant says Canada’s railways are rife with problems and that Canada has lacked a proper transportation policy for decades.The railways have become a political and commercial focus in recent days as the Teamsters Union has threatened to go on strike August 22 with both Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway over working conditions. The union has rejected binding arbitration offers and the federal government has refused to impose it.In an interview, consultant Greg Gormick said binding arbitration was always the railways’ hope.“That's a way of getting out of negotiating. And therefore, what you have is a really toxic situation here between labor and management,” he said.“The relations are a bit better at CN than they are at CP. CP has cut right to the bone…If you haven't got enough people to run your railway to begin with, the last thing you need is labor unrest.”Gormick said a “revolving door” of labour ministers leaves him wondering who Ottawa has that would be qualified to negotiate.“I'm suspicious of anything that's done by the federal or the provincial governments these days. I really feel that we're in an era where incompetence rules and institutional knowledge is gone,” he said.“These are not recent problems. These have been boiling away for a long time. If the government wanted to make it a priority, they should have gotten onto it a long time ago. But this has been going on for decades. There is no transportation policy,” Gormick said.Fires and floods have jeopardized rail service in recent years, adding to the problems.“The whole system is being badly disrupted by mother nature. And that's on top of the neglect the whole rail mode has been shown by Ottawa and the provinces. Canada has dropped the ball, and we're paying the price for it," he said.“The railways were told to take a hike by government years ago.”On Wednesday, a lift bridge collapsed at Fort Frances, Ontario, severing their line from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay. A second CN line from Sioux Lookout to Thunder Bay was removed decades ago. CP has limited ability to handle extra capacity as its double-tracked Winnipeg to Thunder Bay line was also reduced to a single-track years ago.Gormick said the situation reveals the problems of a rail system with no resiliency or redundancy, one governments only offer “band aid” funding for. The attitude, he says, is "out of sight, out of mind, so they don't worry.""Anyone with any brains can see that particularly, CN, they're out of capacity. And there are places where this is a big concern," he said.Gormick said his re-read of a Mulroney-era report on rail from 1992 showed many recommendations yet to be fulfilled. Even now, Trudeau does the same, he said.“We've had more committees struck by this government on freight transportation. They put out a report, and then they vanish.”Nationalizing the railways would also be a bad idea in Gormick’s view because “it becomes rife with all the political intrigues” and Ottawa no longer knows what it’s doing.“Now we don't have the competency to be involved in it. We've let the situation melt down,” Gormick added..This is what the Western Standard is up againstThe Trudeau government is funding lies and propaganda by directly subsidizing the mainstream media. They do this to entrench the powerful Eastern, woke and corrupt interests that dominate the political, social and economic institutions in Canada. Federal authorities are constantly trying to censor us and stop us from publishing the stories that they don’t want you to read. Ottawa may weaponize our taxes and police against us, but we’ve got a powerful ally on our side.You. Free men, and free women. We need you to stand with us and become a member of the Western Standard. Here’s what you will get for your membership:Unlimited access to all articles from the Western Standard, Alberta Report, West Coast Standard, and Saskatchewan Standard, with no paywall. Our daily newsletter delivered to your inbox. .Access to exclusive Member-only WS events.Keep the West’s leading independent media voice strong and free.If you can, please support us with a monthly or annual membership. It takes just a moment to set up, and you will be making a big impact on keeping one the last independent media outlets in Canada free from Ottawa’s corrupting influence.
A Toronto-area rail consultant says Canada’s railways are rife with problems and that Canada has lacked a proper transportation policy for decades.The railways have become a political and commercial focus in recent days as the Teamsters Union has threatened to go on strike August 22 with both Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway over working conditions. The union has rejected binding arbitration offers and the federal government has refused to impose it.In an interview, consultant Greg Gormick said binding arbitration was always the railways’ hope.“That's a way of getting out of negotiating. And therefore, what you have is a really toxic situation here between labor and management,” he said.“The relations are a bit better at CN than they are at CP. CP has cut right to the bone…If you haven't got enough people to run your railway to begin with, the last thing you need is labor unrest.”Gormick said a “revolving door” of labour ministers leaves him wondering who Ottawa has that would be qualified to negotiate.“I'm suspicious of anything that's done by the federal or the provincial governments these days. I really feel that we're in an era where incompetence rules and institutional knowledge is gone,” he said.“These are not recent problems. These have been boiling away for a long time. If the government wanted to make it a priority, they should have gotten onto it a long time ago. But this has been going on for decades. There is no transportation policy,” Gormick said.Fires and floods have jeopardized rail service in recent years, adding to the problems.“The whole system is being badly disrupted by mother nature. And that's on top of the neglect the whole rail mode has been shown by Ottawa and the provinces. Canada has dropped the ball, and we're paying the price for it," he said.“The railways were told to take a hike by government years ago.”On Wednesday, a lift bridge collapsed at Fort Frances, Ontario, severing their line from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay. A second CN line from Sioux Lookout to Thunder Bay was removed decades ago. CP has limited ability to handle extra capacity as its double-tracked Winnipeg to Thunder Bay line was also reduced to a single-track years ago.Gormick said the situation reveals the problems of a rail system with no resiliency or redundancy, one governments only offer “band aid” funding for. The attitude, he says, is "out of sight, out of mind, so they don't worry.""Anyone with any brains can see that particularly, CN, they're out of capacity. And there are places where this is a big concern," he said.Gormick said his re-read of a Mulroney-era report on rail from 1992 showed many recommendations yet to be fulfilled. Even now, Trudeau does the same, he said.“We've had more committees struck by this government on freight transportation. They put out a report, and then they vanish.”Nationalizing the railways would also be a bad idea in Gormick’s view because “it becomes rife with all the political intrigues” and Ottawa no longer knows what it’s doing.“Now we don't have the competency to be involved in it. We've let the situation melt down,” Gormick added..This is what the Western Standard is up againstThe Trudeau government is funding lies and propaganda by directly subsidizing the mainstream media. They do this to entrench the powerful Eastern, woke and corrupt interests that dominate the political, social and economic institutions in Canada. Federal authorities are constantly trying to censor us and stop us from publishing the stories that they don’t want you to read. Ottawa may weaponize our taxes and police against us, but we’ve got a powerful ally on our side.You. Free men, and free women. We need you to stand with us and become a member of the Western Standard. Here’s what you will get for your membership:Unlimited access to all articles from the Western Standard, Alberta Report, West Coast Standard, and Saskatchewan Standard, with no paywall. Our daily newsletter delivered to your inbox. .Access to exclusive Member-only WS events.Keep the West’s leading independent media voice strong and free.If you can, please support us with a monthly or annual membership. It takes just a moment to set up, and you will be making a big impact on keeping one the last independent media outlets in Canada free from Ottawa’s corrupting influence.
