Via Rail Canada lays off 1,000 workers ‘temporarily’

Canada’s passenger rail company said blockades by demonstrators had forced it to temporarily lay off 1,000 employees, adding to pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to solve the protest, which has now been ongoing for two weeks.  

Campaigners have blockaded a main line in Ontario, so freight traffic in eastern Canada has been halted. The protestors say they want to show solidarity with an aboriginal band trying to stop construction of a gas pipeline in the Pacific province of British Columbia.

Cynthia Garneau, president and chief executive officer of VIA Rail, said: “This general interruption is an unprecedented situation in our history”, and called for “a decisive resolution” to the crisis.

The dispute started when a group of around 20 people blocked a Canadian National Railway Co CNR.TO rail line near Edmonton, the capital of the western province of Alberta.

Canada’s main opposition party says the federal Liberal government should send in police to clear the blockades.

President Trudeau said: “This government is working extremely hard to resolve this situation. We know people are facing shortages, they’re facing disruptions, they’re facing layoffs – that’s unacceptable.”

The protesters say they back the Wet’suwet’en indigenous people of British Columbia in their campaign against the C$6.6 billion ($4.98 billion) Coastal GasLink project. Some aboriginal bands claim the right to veto projects on their territory, a stance rejected by a Canadian court earlier this month.

For more information visit www.viarail.ca/en

24th February 2020