CHURCHILL, Manitoba-The Port of Churchill has laid off dozens of employees and announced there will be no grain shipment this season, only freight service.
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He said the company made a threat to layoff workers and it has now followed through on that threat.
He says the NDP gave more than 800-thousand dollars to the company that operated the Port of Churchill.
It’s not clear yet what’s going to happen with the grain that was destined to be shipped out of the Port of Churchill. The port’s closure will hit farmers in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan hard because the cost of transporting their grain to southern ports is higher, the Ashton said.
The port has been the biggest employer in the subarctic town of 800.
“The loss of freight shipments adds insult to injury and will nearly certainly drive up food prices and limit access to necessary supplies”, Lindsay said.
OmniTRAX, which runs the rail line and the port, told employees Monday it will no longer be shipping grain this season. “We worked in good faith, and were prepared to be part of the solution”.
“We’ve reached out many times in terms of, if there’s issues, how can we work together, how can we effectively put together a plan for a busy port season”, he said. “It was totally unexpected”, Spence said, with a noticeable air of resignation in his voice.
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Omnitrax has been trying to sell the port, along with the rail line that connects Churchill to southern Manitoba, and announced a tentative agreement in principle with a group of First Nations a year ago. “That needs to change because the current situation is one that doesn’t just hurt Churchill, it hurts all of us”. Pallister says they are working with the federal government to see how to support anyone who lost their job.
