Manitoba premier says he has not talked with owners of shutdown port

SELKIRK, Man. — Manitoba’s premier and a top federal cabinet minister from the province had yet to hear from Omnitrax Friday — 11 days after the company closed the Port of Churchill and laid off dozens of workers in the small subarctic town.

“Direct communications haven’t been established in recent days,” Premier Brian Pallister said Friday.

“Every relationship has its challenges and some have mysteries, too,” he added later.

Federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr, one of Manitoba’s two representatives in the federal cabinet, said he also had not heard from Omnitrax and was focusing on Churchill residents affected by the closure.

“We are collecting the experience of people on the ground who are affected by these announcements.”

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Denver-based Omnitrax has not made any public statements about its decision and has not done media interviews. The closure of the seasonal port, which has faced ongoing financial challenges, was spurred by a lack of grain shipments slated for this summer, according to the workers’ union.

Omnitrax’s Canadian operations are headed by Merv Tweed, a former Conservative politician who worked alongside Pallister both provincially and federally.

There are some people, including Niki Ashton, the New Democrat member of Parliament who represents Churchill and the surrounding area, who are calling on the federal government to take over the port as well as Omnitrax’s rail line. The rail line brings food, goods and people to many northern communities including a handful that are not accessible by road. Omnitrax announced last week it was scaling back its freight service.

Carr said the federal government will review its options, but refused to say what those options might be.

When asked whether oil shipments — an idea once proposed by Omnitrax but abandoned following public outcry and burgeoning grain shipments — might be a solution for the rail line and port, Carr called the idea “really speculative.”

Omnitrax, which refused to comment Friday, received financial aid last year from the former NDP Manitoba government.  The aid included a $3 per tonne grain subsidy and a promise to cover all operating losses.

Premier Brian Pallister, whose Progressive Conservatives were elected April 19, said his government would not agree to any such bailouts.

“The approaches that have been taken too often in the past have been alarmist and crisis in orientation, and that is not the nature of how we are going to build a stronger northern economy and stronger communities.”

Two of Pallister’s cabinet ministers had been scheduled to fly to Churchill on Friday to discuss the issue with municipal and indigenous leaders, but their flight was cancelled due to poor weather.

Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press