Province looking at options to get essential goods to Churchill: Pallister

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The province is considering emergency subsidies for air and sea shipments of essential supplies to Churchill, Premier Brian Pallister said Wednesday.

But no commitments have been made in the aftermath of overland flooding that has extensively damaged Churchill’s rail link, cutting train service until next spring.

Pallister told reporters he has no timeline for making decisions.

“We’re discussing a wide array of topics,” he said, adding the province has been in constant communication with town officials and Ottawa.

The province needs more information, the premier said. “You don’t agree to a subsidy until you know what the subsidy’s for. I don’t know the actual nature of the needs.”

Any subsidies would be in the form of additional flights or freighter shipments, he said.

“It starts with the community’s response,” said Pallister, who met in Winnipeg Wednesday with Churchill Mayor Mike Spence.

Spence pronounced himself satisfied with the premier’s response in their private meeting.

At a press conference afterward, Spence said Churchill needs both levels of government to speed up repairs to restore rail service.

The Hudson Bay Railway is the only land link for the town of 900 on the shores of Hudson Bay; the town’s popular beluga whale-watching season is about to get underway and Spence said Churchill is open for tourism.

It’s the winter that’s the real worry, he said. Without the rail line, the town will face Arctic blizzards without the home-heating and fuel supplies it needs to last through spring.

“We need to deal with this right now,” he said. “We can’t have a spring deadline. Not having propane in the community — Manitoba housing units, private homes, private businesses, right? You run out of heat, you’re done.

“What’s critical is the rail line needs to be repaired, OK?”

Churchill is also calling on the province and Ottawa for short-term aid with food and supplies.

He said he took a call from Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr, Manitoba’s senior cabinet minister, and got a pledge he would raise the crisis with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“We’re hoping we can get some relief quick. Is it an emergency situation? Sure it is,” Spence told reporters at the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce downtown office.

Omnitrax, the Colorado-based company that owns the railway, says it can’t fix the rail line until spring.

A preliminary assessment showed flooding last month washed away the track bed in 19 places and damaged at least five bridges. Omnitrax will take the next four weeks to re-inspect the line and make a list of repairs.

“We’ve been all told the same message; it’s going to be another four weeks to do that assessment. We’re not satisfied with that,” Spence said. “We need a quicker assessment done and both the federal and provincial governments need to be part of that assessment.”

Pallister said the damage is extensive. “Obviously, we’re very concerned… you can only ascertain so much from a flyover — we’ve got to get on the ground,” he said, but would not comment on the possibility of government help for Omnitrax to do repairs.

“That’s a debate that didn’t start with this,” he said, noting Omnitrax is a private company. “It’s not something that’s going to be fixed and go away in a couple of weeks.”

Pallister wouldn’t speculate on the possibility the company might simply walk away from the rail line.

Spence said the current crisis underscores the need for a permanent solution to keep both the Port of Churchill and the rail line, even if that means Ottawa takes over operations again. The federal government sold off both assets in 1997.

“We want to deal with this once and for all,” he said. “The rail line and the port; does it have a future? You’re damn right it has a future. Maybe some Canadians don’t think so, but the fact of the matter is they don’t live what we’re living through.

“The fact of the matter is there is nowhere (else) in northern Canada that you have that type of infrastructure. You have a huge (air) runway. You got a rail terminus. You got a port. The investment has been made.

“We were not happy it was sold off. We’re not happy that we don’t control it. As Canadians we need to take control of it, as a corridor that needs to be reinvested in. The model needs to change. The reason we’re here is to make sure the community gets its respect in terms of making sure that rail line is back up and running.”

New Democrat MLA Tom Lindsey lined up behind Spence in demanding that both Pallister and Trudeau provide immediate help.

“The residents of Churchill and other northern communities are running short of supplies and the region’s economy is in jeopardy,” said Lindsey, MLA for Flin Flon. “They can’t afford the high cost of flying in supplies and they can’t wait a year for the rail line to be repaired. The province and the federal government must act now to address this crisis.”

In the short term, he said, the province and Ottawa must help offset the extra costs of flying in supplies to maintain the town, the region and their residents. In the long term, both levels of government must work together to nationalize the rail line and ensure that it is properly maintained and able to supply Churchill and the region.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca