August 23, 2024 – Despite yesterday’s move by the Canadian government to force binding arbitration on the two sides in the railway strike, whether the railway strike is actually over has not yet been finalized. The key reason is that the union still must agree to abide by this ruling and put down its signs and close their pickets. A similar situation happened in July when the government tried to stop the Westjet strike only to be embarrassed when the union refused its order. The union is consulting its legal counsel on next steps. If the union does not agree, then the government has no choice but to order parliament back to session and pass back to work legislation. As this is a minority government, there is also doubt whether or not this can be accomplished. Canaan Transport is cautiously optimistic that the strike may come to a close soon but even if the union agrees today to immediately head back to work, it will take upwards of 1-2 weeks to fully recover the rail schedule.