We had to use the dreaded “n/a” last week on our markets chart page because of the federal civil service strike.
Elevator shipment data for Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba comes from the Canadian Grain Commission, whose employees belong to the Public Service Alliance of Canada and were part of the strike
The data gap could have been a lot worse. I was worried as the strike date loomed that the information we use for our weather page, which comes from Agriculture Canada’s National Agroclimate Information Service, would also be affected. It wouldn’t have been much of a weather page without that data, but in the end it was available and the page came together.
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The strike ended for most federal civil servants earlier this week, but while it was on we kept a close eye on developments that affected agriculture.
It’s been a long time since we’ve had to cover a federal service strike of this magnitude, considering that the last one was in the fall of 1991.
That three-week job action, which ended when the Progressive Conservative government under prime minister Brian Mulroney legislated employees back to work, was known for unruly protests on Parliament Hill.
However, my memories of the strike were more personal.
That fall, my wife and I travelled to the West Coast for a holiday and while we were there, we rented a car and drove across Vancouver Island to Tofino.
The weather was good, if a bit chilly, and our plan was to spend most of our time on Long Beach in nearby Pacific Rim National Park.
We had a great time, taking in the fresh ocean air, observing wildlife (mainly birds) and watching surfers in their wet suits riding the waves.
There was just one wrinkle.
My wife was a few months pregnant at the time, and as is often the case with pregnant women, needed to use the washroom on a much more constant basis than usual.
But the public washrooms on the beach were closed because of the strike, so every time nature called, which was often, we had to drive the 20 kilometres back to our hotel in Tofino.
It wasn’t the worst inconvenience we could have suffered, but it was certainly unforgettable.
