Ottawa orders railroads to enter arbitration with labour union to avert prolonged disruption to services.

Canada’s government has intervened to end a shutdown of freight rail services that had raised fears of supply-chain chaos across North America.

Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon said on Thursday that freight rail operations could resume “within days” after he asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board to oversee binding arbitration between the country’s two major railroads and their labour union.

“Canada is a trading nation. The government will do everything in its power to preserve the stability and certainty that our railways – and entire economy – are renowned for the world over,” MacKinnon said in a statement.

Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) locked out more than 9,000 unionised employees early on Thursday after management failed to agree on a new contract with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union before a midnight deadline.

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