Statement from PC Agriculture Critic Jeff Bereza on B.C. Port Strike
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE — Portage la Prairie MLA Jeff Bereza, PC Critic for Agriculture, issued the following statement today calling for the immediate resumption of grain handling activities at the Port of Vancouver, and for Manitoba’s NDP government to enact provincial legislation to protect Manitoba agricultural products from labour stoppages:
“The labour disruptions and impacts to agriculture that we have seen recently in British Columbia are nothing new. It has happened many times over the last several decades. The federal government has recognized the need to protect bulk grain handling from labour action and amended the Canada Labour Code to do so. What we need now is complementary legislation in Manitoba.
“What’s happened in Vancouver is that a key link in the grain transportation supply chain has been broken. The trains that deliver the grain to the terminal and the people who tie-up and handle the ships are federally regulated, but the terminal that takes the grain and puts it on the ship is provincially regulated. This legal oddity renders the federal legislation ineffective, and the provinces must collaborate to ensure Canadian farm products get to market.
“That’s why I’m calling on NDP agriculture minister Ron Kostyshyn to act in the best interests of Manitoba farmers, and introduce legislation declaring the handling and transportation of agricultural products an essential service and protected from labour stoppages in Manitoba.
“A strong and vibrant agricultural industry is too critical to the success of our province, and the Canadian economy, for the NDP government to remain silent on this issue.”
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