Canada’s railway shutdown has halted freight trains nationwide, raising concerns about a potential critical shortage of essential goods, including chlorine needed for safe drinking water.
Health Minister Mark Holland acknowledged that while it’s too early to determine if a potential chlorine shortage will affect Canada’s drinking water supply, the government will continue to monitor the situation closely.
“We’re always monitoring the situation. So that’s extremely important for us to be able to take a look at what’s happening, how it might affect the supply chain, how it might affect health,” Holland told Global News in a Thursday interview.
“I think it is too early to be able to say that at this point in time. But I think it’s very fair to say that we’re monitoring it very closely, to make sure that we limit impacts.”
After failing to reach a new agreement with the Teamsters union on Thursday, Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) have locked out workers, bringing rail traffic to a standstill on Canada’s two largest railways.
Following the lockout announcement, the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC) urged the federal government to intervene immediately, warning that the work stoppage could soon have serious public safety implications.
“This work stoppage will soon lead to significant public safety impacts as 96 per cent of Canadians rely on safe drinking water that needs chlorine and chlorine derivatives,” CIAC wrote in a statement.
“As the supply of these chemicals dwindle in the coming days, municipalities across the country will be forced to issue boil water advisories.”
Chlorine is used to disinfect drinking water and is distributed throughout Canada and the United States via railway.
Because of the lockout, the organization said chlorine shipments would soon become unavailable, hitting the quality of drinking water within two weeks.
“There are very large municipalities that — if the strike goes on — are going to be under boil water advisories,” CEO Bob Masterson told the Canadian Press on Aug. 8.
“There is no plan B … to transport this kind of volume you will need 2,000 trucks, roughly. There aren’t 2,000 trucks, and there aren’t 2,000 drivers,” he said.
Most municipalities also have a few more days’ worth of treated water in storage tanks, he noted.
Even before the lockout, freight railways had already begun turning away an increasing number of goods in anticipation of a potential work stoppage that threatened to disrupt supply chains and industries — including chlorine.
Alan Robinson, commercial vice-president at Chemtrade Logistics Inc., told the Canadian Press last week that it provides chlorine for 40 per cent of Western Canada’s drinking water, as well as much of the western United States.
Its product cannot move by truck or ship, he pointed out, and safety regulations cap the amount that can be stockpiled.
— with files from The Canadian Press