Lyndon Isaak, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference—which represents thousands of railway workers currently on their fourth day of a strike against the Canadian National Railway—said reports of propane shortages are a means “to manufacture a crisis and force back-to-work legislation.” (Bloomberg)

Talking point: CN’s rail network stretches across approximately 20,000 route-miles of track and ships globally through ports on three coasts. Agriculture and chemical manufacturing are among the industries heavily dependent on CN, and the service disruption is fuelling worries about sales losses. On Friday, Fertilizer Canada called for an end to the strike, noting up to $300 million worth of fertilizer shipments (or 21 million tonnes of wheat and about nine million of canola seed exports, according to one professor) could be impacted. According to TD economists, should the strike last until the end of the month it could negatively impact Canada’s economy by $2.2 billion, increasing to $3.1 billion if it extends to December 5, when Parliament resumes.