The strike at Canadian National Railway (CN) would have a significant and damaging impact on the mining industry and could lead to mine closures in a “matter of days”, the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) has warned.

More than 3 000 workers of CN Railway – the country’s largest railroad operator – went on strike on Tuesday, after the company and labour unions failed to resolve contract issues.

"MAC members have advised that this strike will result in a severe reduction or elimination of railway capacity and will trigger the closure of mines with concurrent lay-offs of thousands of employees beginning in a matter of days," said MAC CEO Pierre Gratton.

The impact of the strike would be felt strongly by mining companies dependent on rail to transport supplies into, or transport products and by-products from, operations.

"The shipment of fuel and other supplies to mine sites will be compromised as will the transport of mineral products."

To avoid significant damage to the economy, the interruption of an “untold number of lay-offs” across Canada and the potential damage to the country's reputation as a reliable trading partner, MAC urged the government to take action to address the work stoppage.

"We recommend that the government impose binding arbitration to address this dispute – and to also consider such arbitration as a required step in future labour disputes involving the Class 1 railroads, given the frequency and adverse impact of such disputes," said Gratton.   

The MAC noted that the mining industry was the most significant customer of Canada's Class I railways, consistently accounting for the majority (52.3% in 2018) of rail freight revenues generated each year, and was the single largest shipping group by volume.

CN transports more than C$250-billion a year worth of goods for a wide range of business sectors, ranging from resource products to manufactured products and consumer goods, across a rail network spanning Canada and mid-America.