B.C. port workers strike prompts Nutrien to reduce production at potash mine outside of Saskatoon
'It's imperative that we have access and that port is functioning,' Premier Scott Moe says
Saskatchewan's premier is hoping for a quick resolution to the British Columbia port workers' strike, as the world's largest potash producer is curtailing production near Saskatoon.
Nutrien Ltd. announced Tuesday it has reduced production at its Cory potash mine — located west of Saskatchewan's largest city — because of "loss of export capacity" through Canpotex's Neptune terminal, due to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada strike at the Port of Vancouver.
"It's imperative that we have access and that port is functioning," Scott Moe said Tuesday while on CBC's Power and Politics with David Cochrane.
"[The federal government has] to protect the the Canadian economy and, most certainly, the port of Vancouver and all of the product that travels through that port is imperative to the the Canadian economy. It's imperative to the Saskatchewan economy."
About 7,400 port workers went on strike on July 1 for higher wages, upending operations at ports across British Columbia. The ports are key gateways for exporting Canada's natural resources and commodities and bringing in raw materials.
Ken Seitz, CEO of Saskatoon-based Nutrien, hopes the two sides reach an agreement soon, he said in a news release issued Tuesday.
The disruption at the port forced the company to decrease production at the Cory mine, Seitz said, and more of its potash mines throughout Saskatchewan could be affected if the strike is prolonged.
A Nutrien spokesperson told CBC News via email that the company is not planning on laying off workers at this time.
Curtailment at the Cory mine means slowing down potash production and focusing efforts on maintenance and capital projects, the spokesperson said.
Nutrien is expecting core earnings to fall below its previously forecasted range, according to the news release. It blames the strike, lower-than-expected global potash prices and a terminal outage at the Port of Portland in Oregon.
The company says it plans to provide an updated full-year 2023 guidance reflecting those impacts at the time of its second quarter results on Aug. 2.
The strike has a greater effect on Saskatchewan's economy, particularly through potash. Saskatchewan produces about 30 per cent of the world's potash.
Premier Moe credited the federal government for already putting mediators in place, but said he hopes they are prepared to do whatever is necessary to reach a deal quickly.
"They also need to prepare, ultimately, to use all of the tools that they have available, for them to ensure that this strike is not ongoing, as the costs are just too great to Canadians from coast to coast to coast," Moe said.
The Saskatchewan government had raised the issue on June 20 — more than a week before the strike started — so "proactive options could be explored," the premier's spokesperson told CBC News in an email Tuesday.
In a statement, Opposition NDP jobs and economy critic Aleana Young echoed the need for the federal government to step up and said she hopes the strike is resolved quickly.
Young added, however, that "it is beyond passing strange" that the Saskatchewan government has been vocal about the impacts of this strike, but also encouraged the people who set up illegal blockades at Canada-U.S. border crossings in Windsor, Ont., and Coutts, Alta., last year during what was called the Freedom Convoy.
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With files from Adam Hunter and Reuters