WEDNESDAY
S I N C E
1 8 9 5
JUNE 6, 2012
Meeting tackles West Kootenay transit issues
Vol. 117, Issue 110
110
$
Page 2
INCLUDING H.S.T.
PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF
ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALM SALMO
SOGGY SPRINT
MONTROSE
End to water woes in sight BY BREANNE MASSEY Times Staff
JIM BAILEY PHOTO
Close to 300 athletes from 11 elementary schools braved the elements to participate in School District 20’s annual elementary school track and field meet at Haley Park Tuesday. See photos on Page 9.
Trains back on track brings relief for Teck Union members unhappy but comply with back-to-work order BY TIMOTHY SCHAFER Times Staff
A financial disaster was avoided for the city’s largest employer when the federal government legislated CP Rail employees back to work Friday. As the national rail company’s biggest customer, Teck Resources Ltd. was bracing itself for the financial fallout of a prolonged rail strike when federal Minister of Labour Lisa Raitt and the Conservative government passed back-to-work legislation Thursday night. Marcia Smith, Teck’s senior vice president of sustainability and external affairs, said the effect of the brief
job action last week likely won’t register when the quarterly financial picture is developed in July, but there was some concern over the incident. “In a nutshell, any strike like that when you are captive to a railway is serious, because it has a spill over effect on all sorts of people in the province and across the country,” she said from Teck headquarters in Vancouver. “Anything that impacts our ability to do our operations is serious.” But with no trains running for one day while the workers — including locomotive engineers, conductors, yard workers and others — forced Canada’s second-biggest railway to shut down freight operations, that meant 30 car loads of product, both in bound and out bound, were halted
“Now why would CP Rail management bargain with us, when they know the government would force us back to work?.” DON CONWAY
at Teck’s Trail Operation. “Obviously not getting product in and not getting product out does have an effect on our operations,” said Smith. The Kootenay Valley Rail (KVR) line — that runs from Creston to Trail — is owned and operated by CP and is staffed with CP employees, and was affected by the strike. The line moves product for Teck, Zellstoff Celgar pulp mill and Interfor sawmill
in Castlegar. But because the job action was brief it did not have any impact in terms of Teck having to curtail any operations, Smith noted. She said there were a number of operational plans ready to put in place to deal with a potentially long strike, but could not say what those would have been. On its website, the Mining Association of Canada said its member companies will now have a backlog of work to catch up on as they return to rail usage to get supplies to work sites and products to market. CP Rail resumed operations across its entire Canadian freight network Friday morning after the union representing the 4,800 strikers, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference,
See ARBITRATOR, Page 3
GIANT TRUCK CLEAROUT (5'% $)3#/5.43 3 0,5
0%
INTEREST FOR 72 MONTHS OAC
The Village of Montrose is optimistic that water restrictions could be lifted this week after a water main breakage more than three weeks ago. The village’s previously existing water supply was used for a test period on Tuesday and could be accessible to residents as early as Thursday An air lock in the water main below the valves was detected during a test on Friday. The lines were charged to bleed it out, but the pressure “blew” an on-site hot water tank, explained Kevin Chartres, the chief administrative officer for the village. The test damaged three homes with finished basements and flooded some other unfinished basements with minimal damages. Chartres said the village has been in contact with insurance providers. “We’re optimistic about the water being on again (Thursday) if everything goes well,” he added. “But we have to wait and see what happens.” The boil water advisory will remain after the water restrictions have been lifted, and when the water main has been tested, residents will be notified of any changes.
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