The national Wet’suwet’en blockade situation is affecting economics from coast to coast.
That doesn’t exclude the Parkland, where delayed grain shipments and dwindling supply sources for retailers have become problematic.
We asked Dan Mazier, MP for Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa, for his thoughts on the situation.
“I think there’s lots of proof that if you or I were standing out on the train track blockaded somewhere, we would be arrested immediately. Bottom line is, this is illegal activity and it’s holding up the whole country. It’s bad, and it’s all due to the government’s inaction.”
Mazier adds that he doesn’t feel that there’s an end in sight without government intervention.
“The government, we’re pressing them really hard we’ve been all week on them as far as when are they going to step up, do the responsible thing as a government, as the governing party, and really uphold the rules of the law. They are not doing that, there’s no indication that they are and this is basically, they’re endorsing illegal activity. That doesn’t bode well for anybody here in Canada.”
Mazier is surprised how quickly Manitoba has been affected by the blockade. He says on the retail side people are starting to run low on stock, especially if they expect stuff to come in by rail.
“Then there’s the whole agriculture side, the grain side, that is probably, when you look at Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa, I would say without a doubt there’s a lot of concern going on right now. I know I’ve heard lots of examples of grain contracts being backed up by 4-6 weeks. I know CN is talking about their grain plan is backed up by more than that probably right now. It’s increasing every day.”
Mazier adds that there’s a concern with getting fertilizer into the community because a lot of producers didn’t have a chance to get fall fertilizer on which could be a problem if we don’t have a good spring.
