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TORONTO – Real estate adviser Avison Young has issued a statement warning about the impacts of the rail strike if it continues.

The Aug. 23 statement came a day after the federal government announced it was asking the Canada Industrial Relations Board to issue a back-to-work order. Workers at Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Canadian National Railway were off work Thursday with service levels remaining uncertain as of mid-day Friday.

Avison Young said intermodal transportation – shipping containers of domestic and international large-size or large-volume goods transported between trains, ships and trucks – are significantly impacted by a strike. One train railcar has the capacity of two trucks; switching to trucks would place demands on a trucking industry already stretched by a shortage in available truckers and by high fuel prices. Meanwhile, freight that is large and heavy simply couldn’t be transported on trucks as an alternate solution to trains.

“We expect a significant delay between the point where an agreement is reached and the point where labour and supply recover to catch up with the bottleneck,” stated Avison Young senior manager Warren D’Souza in a statement. “CN and CP are seeking to expand their infrastructure and intermodal yards in the Greater Toronto Area but available buildings and developable land have become increasingly scarce, with the GTA positioned as one of North America’s tightest industrial markets at a 2.4 per cent vacancy rate as of Q2 2024.

“Having these two railways out of the equation for any period of time is creating a gap in the supply chain that wouldn’t be quickly filled, resulting in a strain on the Canadian economy.”