Our survival is at stake: biz owners

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/06/2017 (3054 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LOSING the lifeline that takes food, fuel and tourists to remote Churchill is devastating, say business owners who aren’t sure how the town will survive until winter without rail service.

“We are still in shock,” Paul Ratson with Nature 1st Tours in Churchill said Friday. “It had looked like it was going to be a good year, but now the cancellations are coming fast and furious.”

He offers ecosystem tours until the end of November.

“Our first major concern is how will this affect our clients and, obviously, our bottom line. The second immediate concern is goods (and) food,” he said. “If we are not making any money, how can we afford the increased costs when the freight gets added to the product?”

He said Churchill can’t easily absorb another blow to its economy.

“The town was already reeling from the closure of the port and the loss of jobs,” Ratson said. “Now, no one will be hiring for the seasonal jobs that were keeping the town alive,” he said.

For Valerie Daley, co-owner of the Aurora Inn, an 18-room hotel, the news came Friday via a phone call from a reporter in Winnipeg.

“That’s ridiculous,” she said. “This is terrible… you kind of shocked me here. This is pretty devastating news… People who are booking are coming in on the train for holidays. If there’s no train, they’re probably going to cancel.

“It just seems like one thing after another: the port shut down last year, a hundred people lost their jobs, now this? We had a state of emergency for the blizzard of the century (in March).”

The economy may also potentially lose out on construction work jobs this summer. “If they can’t bring in their supplies, I’m not sure how that’s going to work,” Daley said.

“Shouldn’t somebody be stepping in to say, we’re going to subsidize the freight for Churchill so that they can keep trying to operate? We need help with that, for sure… I hope something will be done,” she said.

Six blocks away, Helen Da Silva, co-owner of Gypsy’s Bakery & Restaurant, was also digesting the news.

The effect of the shutdown of the damaged rail line at the end of May is being felt “not just on my business, but the whole town,” she said.

“(Thursday) was the first day I didn’t make bread because we are out of flour,” Da Silva said.

“Now, the problem is more serious than we thought. I have a little bit (of flour) left for the restaurant, but yesterday no (business) had bread in town.”

Without the regular train, freight costs have become prohibitive, she said.

“There’s no way we can afford this. To bring flour in (by air), the amount they want to charge me just for the shipping is $8,000. Forget it… Imagine how much that bread is going to cost?”

The quoted price for a similar shipment via a ship from Montreal (arriving mid-July) was the same, she said.

“I don’t know what is going to happen. The government has to help,” she said.

“Here, we cannot go anywhere. If we had a road and can drive two, three hours to get things you need, fine. But we are like an island. We cannot go anywhere except by train or plane.”

One veteran Churchill tour operator who doesn’t rely on rail service for customers hopes the town gets help “from the powers that be.

“Churchill is a community that really depends on rail service for oil, groceries, lumber, you name it — everything comes in on rail,” said Churchill Nature Tours president Thuraya Weedon.

“It’s Churchill’s lifeline. People are very frustrated. All the local operators have hired all their summer staff — it’s tragic. They need help, and they need it now,” said Weedon.

“So many people are coming for the 150th birthday of Canada,” Weedon said. “Hundreds of people are coming up and they love to come on the train. I’m hoping it will be ready for polar bear season in October and November.”

Weedon’s customers fly to Churchill.

She can’t recall a time in recent memory when there was no rail service for an entire season: “This is the worst.”

A Via Rail spokeswoman said Friday passenger rail service had been advised of the situation and is getting in touch with customers who have reservations.

“No alternative mode of transportation will be provided,” Mylene Belanger said in an email from Montreal.

Via trains will continue to operate between Gillam and Winnipeg, Belanger said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.cascott.emmerson@freepress.mb.ca