page_title: 2020 Canadian pipeline and railway protests
section_title: Impact
hierarchical_section_title: 2020 Canadian pipeline and railway protests / Solidarity protests / Impact
caption_attribution_description: English: Mohawk protesters stand by a snowplow covered in Iroquois and Mohawk Warrior flags near a level crossing at Wyman Rd with firewood and a wooden sign that reads "#RCMP get out". One of a series of photographs taken by Bobby-Jo Morris at the demonstration at the railway lines in the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in support of the Wetʼsuwetʼen protest against the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline through their territory.
context_page_description: The 2020 Canadian pipeline and railway protests were a series of civil disobedience protests held in Canada. The main issue behind the protests was the construction of the Coastal GasLink Pipeline through 190 kilometres of Wetʼsuwetʼen First Nation territory in British Columbia, land that is unceded. Other concerns of the protesters were indigenous land rights, the actions of police, land conservation, and the environmental impact of energy projects.
  Starting in 2010, the Wetʼsuwetʼen hereditary chiefs and their supporters made their opposition to the project known and set up a camp directly in the path of the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines, a path similar to that which would later be proposed for the Coastal GasLink Pipeline. Northern Gateway was officially rejected in 2016, but the CGL project moved through planning, indigenous consultations, environmental reviews and governmental reviews before being approved in 2015. However, the approval of all the Wetʼsuwetʼen hereditary chiefs was never granted. In 2018, the backers of the pipeline project gave the go-ahead to the CA$6.6 billion project and it began construction.
context_section_description: The blockades led to the shutdown of CNR's Eastern Canadian network, causing a complete halt of freight traffic from Halifax west to Toronto. On February 19, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters estimated that CA$425 million in goods were being stranded each day of the shutdown. An executive of the Business Council of Canada called the shutdown "potentially a catastrophe for the economy" and said that rail "is the backbone of infrastructure in this country."
  Due to a poor growing season which resulted in an unusually late harvest just before Christmas, Canadian wheat and barley shipments were already in a backlog and were further impacted by the rail blockades. Spring farm supplies such as fertilizer were also delayed by the rail shutdown. Canadian grain farmers have previously advocated to have rail transport declared an essential service. Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Mary Robinson warned of "huge financial consequences" as farmers do not get paid until products are delivered to the market.
  Dennis Darby, president and CEO of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association, states that Canadian manufacturers rely on 4,500 rail cars per day, which represent both supply chain and delivery of finished products. Many of these products are too large or bulky to be shipped by other means. The total value of these deliveries amounts to CA$200 billion annually. Chemicals trade group Responsible Distribution Canada warned of shortages of chlorine to purify drinking water. Supply chains for chlorine, jet fuel and de-icing fluid all rely on rail transport: "You can't put it in a truck and send it down the 401" said an executive of the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada. Mining, which accounted for 20% of Canada's 2018 exports, also moves "most" of its output by rail. By February 21, four thousand containers reportedly sat on the docks of Montreal waiting for transport and no grain had arrived for shipment at the port. In Halifax, the Atlantic Container Line has diverted to New York and Baltimore. In Vancouver, goods waiting to be shipped east led to a backlog of 50 ships waiting to be unloaded.
  The disruption of propane rail shipments was expected to lead to shortages and rationing, during a time when many communities were experiencing extremely cold weather. In Atlantic Canada, at the end of the propane supply line, reserves fell to a five-day supply by February 14. Superior Propane, Canada's largest supplier, rationed distribution in Atlantic Canada.
  SCFG laid off five of its 30 employees on February 14. On February 18, CNR laid off 450 employees for reasons related to the pipeline disruptions; the company has stated that as many as 6,000 of its 24,000 employees could be laid off. On February 19, Via Rail announced temporary layoffs of up to 1,000 people due to the blockades. By the first week of March, the majority of the laid-off Via Rail employees and all of the affected CNR employees were recalled.
  On March 13, Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux released a report that the protests would leave "a minimal dent in the pace of economic growth", estimating that the blockades would reduce Canadian economic growth by 0.2% for the first quarter of 2020. For the whole year, the expectation was for the GDP to fall by CA$275 million, about 0.01% of the total GDP, which Giroux referred to as "a blip", despite the warnings by businesses of shortages, referred to by the PBO as "overblown". The PBO said that the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic would likely have a greater impact on the economy.
caption: Mohawk protesters by the level crossing at Wyman Road in Tyendinaga. This blockade along a critical rail line led to CNR shutting down its network in eastern Canada.
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