VIA Rail to lay off 1,000 employees during railway blockades

The latest news comes as the Trudeau government’s inaction piles increasing pressure onto companies affected by the blockades, namely VIA Rail and CN Rail. Most recent figures show that CN has temporarily laid off 450 employees, and that at least 83,000 passengers have been inconvenienced by VIA rail’s temporary closure.

Additionally, cities are predicted to soon feel the affects of the closures. On Sunday, Nathalie St-Pierre, the Canadian Propane Association president and CEO, told CBC that propane shortages will start to be seen in days, if things do not return to normal promptly.

“This is an emergency. People have to understand that, and those that are protesting have to understand that there needs to be a resumption of the services,” She said.

“We haven’t seen any progress in terms of finding solutions now for the issues of getting the transportation to be back to normal. So it’s very troublesome.”

“Some industries can switch back to oil or other sources, but that’s also going to run out eventually.”