March 19, 1999 For Immediate Delivery
LET THIS BE THE LAST STRIKE BY PUBLIC SERVANTS TO STOP WESTERN GRAIN
"Five Liberal Ministers are responsible for this mess and they were warned about it six weeks ago."
Ottawa – Last night’s speech in the House of Commons by Garry Breitkreuz, M.P. for Yorkton-Melville, made headlines across Canada. At the request of the Reform Party, the House held a four-hour Emergency Debate calling for an end to the strike by 70 government grain workers at the Port of Vancouver. The strike is costing western grain producers millions of dollars by bringing West Coast grain shipments to a standstill. "It may not look like it on the outside but, on the inside I am jumping up and down screaming," Breitkreuz told the House. "Reformers have proposed solutions to this recurring problem for several years, such as final offer arbitration. The buck stops with the government. The government could permanently fix this problem in one day if they wanted to but they would rather see western grain producers held hostage year after year after year."
Later in his speech, Breitkreuz dropped his bombshell. The Ottawa Citizen reported it this way:
Reform MP Garry Breitkreuz complained the government was warned long before the strike about its economic impact. "The ministers knew in advance the result of these work stoppages, that they were going to happen and he could have done something already six weeks ago," said Breitkreuz. Reading from a letter dated Jan. 27, 1999, Breitkreuz - who did not disclose its source - said the backup of unloaded grain cars could cost Canadians millions of dollars and "impact our critical trading relationships with foreign buyers. "The minister of agriculture, the minister of transportation, the minister responsible for the Canada Wheat Board and the minister of international trade were given . . . clear indication of the problems and they did nothing."
Breitkreuz used his twenty minutes to describe the damage that this six week work slowdown and 3 day work stoppage has caused in the four western provinces, his home province of Saskatchewan and in his own constituency. "To date, 2,935 rail car unloads have been lost at Vancouver. The industry expects to lose 4,200 rail car loadings this week and next if the strike and picketing continues. Each week after that 2,750 cars per week will be lost. The losses are in the millions and most Canadians cannot comprehend how much this affects prairie farmers. The accumulated lost tonnes at this time equal some 642,150 tonnes. Canada’s reputation as a reliable supplier of grain will suffer immensely," Breitkreuz said during the Emergency Debate.
"I listened to the Minister’s speech and there are no solutions offered in that speech," continued Breitkreuz. As Reformers, we have proposed this final offer selection arbitration as a mechanism for settling outstanding issues in sectors where continued service is essential to the national economy. There have been estimates that the grain handling and transportation system in Western Canada is at a disadvantage of about $500 million in my province alone…something must be done!" Breitkreuz concluded, "We have to address this in the long term so that we are not back here every few months dealing with another aspect of the problem. I urge the government to do that immediately."
-30-
The Office of Garry Breitkreuz, M.P.
Yorkton: (306) 782-3309
Ottawa: (613) 992-4394