B.C. port strike impacting Alberta businesses

For one Calgary furniture store, a prolonged strike at the Port of Vancouver could impact when his customers receive their orders.

"It goes into about a three-week backlog," said Bruce MacMillan, owner of Limitless in Inglewood.

"So, once things get stressed, you'd have to start moving three things to move one. And then that's what creates the backlog and we're just getting to a point where things have normalized from COVID and increased demand."

MacMillan does a lot of special orders for clients, estimating between 14 and 16 weeks for delivery.

Before the pandemic, it was around 10 to 12 weeks.

Bruce MacMillan, owner of Limitless in Inglewood, says a prolonged strike at the Port of Vancouver could impact when his customers receive their orders.

Each day not worked on the port can exponentially grow delivery delays, according to MacMillan, though he sympathizes with the workers, who he feels have been pushed to their limit since the pandemic began.

"This is just an unfortunate time because we're quite stressed, costs are up and it's going to add to that again," he said.

"There's just no way to have a contingency for this type of thing."

Bruce MacMillan, owner of Limitless in Inglewood, says a prolonged strike at the Port of Vancouver could impact when his customers receive their orders.

It's been five days since workers went on strike, and talks between maritime employers and the union representing British Columbia port workers remain deadlocked.

Both sides have issued statements singling out a maintenance deal as the reason talks stalled Monday, leaving more than 7,000 workers at 30 ports across B.C. on strike since Saturday morning.

Business organizations as well as officials in both Alberta and Saskatchewan have called on Ottawa to step in and end the strike, but federal Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan says he wants the union and employers to go back to the negotiating table.

"From what I've seen, the two parties seem to be moving further away rather than closer together," said Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.

"This would be devastating for Alberta. Our request has been that Parliament needs to return to end this and to order people back to work."

Smith says she plans to meet with the prime minister on Friday in Alberta and this strike will be very much on the table.

"This can't drag on for weeks or months," she said.

"We need a resolution. We'd love to see both sides at the table come to a common ground but we understand that they're not moving closer together and that requires federal intervention."

A spokesperson for Devin Dreeshen, Alberta's transportation and economic corridors minister, says the province respects that both parties have legitimate concerns needing to be addressed.

"However, this strike puts critical supply chains and the economies of Alberta and Canada at risk and erodes our country's reputation as a reliable trading partner," a statement read.

"In 2021, Parliament used legislation to end a walkout by Port of Montreal dock workers after one day. We hope the federal government shows the same amount of urgency in resolving this critical supply chain disruption."

The province says in 2021, $43 billion worth of Alberta cargo was shipped through the Port of Vancouver.

"We want this resolved as quickly as possible," said B.C. Transportation Minister Rob Fleming.

"And the way to do that is at the bargaining table."

With Files From The Canadian Press