GHY Tradelines

(Financial Post)

In the wake of Wednesday’s strike by locomotive engineers and conductors at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd, the country’s second-biggest railroad, the labour minister issued a warning: Any work stoppage that threatens to have a “grave” impact on the economy is fair game for government action.

Ms. Raitt then backed that up with the threat of back-to-work legislation if the company and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference don’t settle things on their own, and soon. Those around the bargaining table “have to be aware of the fact that the Canadian government will step in on the basis of the national economy and the greater public interest at some point. That’s not a secret.” Read more here.
 

(Janet Davison – CBC News)

When engineers and other workers at Canadian Pacific Railway walked off the job early Wednesday, they set off a strike that could affect coal mines, farms, auto manufacturing plants and maybe even the local Canadian Tire.

Just how those ripples might spread will depend in large part on how long the strike lasts, and the flexibility producers have in getting their goods to where they want them to go.

“Anything more than a few days starts to really hit,” says Bob Ballantyne, president of the Canadian Industrial Transportation Association, a national lobby group for Canada’s large shippers.

CP accounts for about 40 per cent of Canada’s rail activity, and Ballantyne says a strike “will have a very big impact if it lasts for any length of time.”

What’s more, it won’t just be shippers who feel the pinch. Read more here.
 

(Canada NewsWire)

Yet mood for expansion rests on stable economic growth at home

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s persistent coaxing of Canadian business to diversify international trade beyond the United States may be gaining traction as 71% of large, medium and small businesses in Canada project China or India to represent the largest increase in trade this year. Only eight per cent of businesses project the U.S. to be the fastest growing source of exports and imports in 2012.

According to a quarterly survey of Canadian business commissioned by UPS Canada and conducted by Leger Marketing, the business community’s positive outlook on growth is contingent on the continued stability of the Canadian economy. This optimism is also fuelling a boost in innovation, as nearly three quarters of respondents (71%) plan to launch a new product or upgrade an existing one in 2012. Canadian business is particularly bullish about global expansion with 62% of medium-to-large businesses identifying exporting as a competitive necessity.

“It’s very reassuring to see such a groundswell of optimism and ambition regarding global expansion among Canadian businesses as we move into the latter part of Q2,” said UPS Canada Director of Small Business Paul Gaspar. “But as we saw in February when the GDP numbers were released, the shift to go global is still somewhat tenuous.” Read more here.