No plans announced for Port of Churchill

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This article was published 31/08/2016 (3321 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Provincial officials are still in the dark about Omnitrax Canada’s plan for the Port of Churchill.

It has been more than a month since the Denver-based company announced it was shuttering Canada’s only deep sea Arctic port and Growth, Enterprise and Trade Minister Cliff Cullen says they are no closer to an answer from Omnitrax.

The biggest question? Whether Omnitrax is prepared to sell its assets in northern Manitoba, explained Cullen Wednesday. 

“Let’s say we would prefer to have more open dialogue with Omnitrax,” said Cullen. “From a provincial perspective, we are not sure where they are at.”

Tensions have been high between the province and the private company after Premier Brian Pallister publicly denounced the company, saying its closure of the Port of Churchill was a “threat” designed to leverage a bailout from the government. 

The closure affects more than 70 people of the northern town’s workforce, almost 10 per cent of the town of 800.

A request for comment from Omnitrax Canada’s president Merv Tweed was not returned.

Cullen said “various sources” have talked about the idea of nationalizing the Port. OmniTrax has operated the Port of Churchill and the Hudson Bay rail line since 1997 after the privatization of Canadian National Railway Ltd. 

“But we have never heard that from Omnitrax,” Cullen said, adding he is unclear about the federal government’s stance on the issue. 

“Lack of communication is always problematic, in this particular case if there are people who want to invest in this particular asset, they would like to put them in touch with Omnitrax, so they can have that discussion as well.”

Cullen and Navdeep Singh Bains, the federal minister of innovation, science and economic development, spoke Wednesday afternoon after Cullen spoke with the Free Press. 

“I am going to ask him if there has been an approach by Omnitrax to the federal government to see what role they (the feds) are going to play in this, but we hope for better communications from Omnitrax, just so we are clear on what they are trying to accomplish,” Cullen said.

Cullen later told the Free Press in a prepared statement after the conversation with Bains it was clear “our federal partners share our views for a long-term permanent solution to the problem” without offering any further detail.

 kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca