Minister Cliff Cullen goes to Churchill amid crisis in the north

The town of Churchill will have visitors Monday, but whales and bears won't entirely be the focus.

Growth, Enterprise and Trade Minister Cliff Cullenwill lead a delegation of business and tourism officials to the Hudson Bay town in a climate of mounting gloom fornorthern Manitoba.

United States-based rail company OmniTraxis closing the Port of Churchill and cut the number of railway freight deliveriesto the town in half.

Not one cargo ship has picked up grain at the port this summer.

Residents in The Pas are reeling after last week's announcement that theTolkopapermill will shut down in December, putting more than 300 employees out of work and affecting hundreds more who supply the facility with products and services.

• Manitoba can't do much to save Tolko mill in The Pas, premier says

The Pas received a double blow last week when the board controlling theAseneskak Casino signalled its intention to move operations out of the community. OmniTrax also reduced its railway workforce in the town this summer.

Manitoba's northern communities taking a beating

The New DemocratMLA for Flin Flon said he hopes the PC government's visit to Churchill has some teeth in it.

"Never has there been this much bad news in the north all at once," said Tom Lindsey.

"If they'rejust going up there to make themselves feel good, then they may as well stay home. If they are going to offer something to the people of Churchill that they've actually taken some action, talked to some people, done something well then good."

The anxiety in Churchill has grown since the bad news dropped in July.

• Port of Churchill layoffs 'came out of nowhere,' says town's mayor

"When did Churchill become so unimportant?" asked David Daley.

The Churchill business owner saidthe decline has been going on for decades,from the disappearance of a Canadian military presence in the town to the federal government selling the port toOmniTrax.

Daley saidsomething has to be done to ease shipping costs. He brings in food for his sled dog teams and the price skyrockets on the last leg of the journey.

"From New Brunswick on the east coast to Winnipeg for $638. From Winnipeg to Churchill it's $1,900," Daley said.

"So tell me how that makes any sense.How can anyone, if they are calling for economic development in the north,how can we have development at those costs?"

Monday's visit by a provincial politician is the first public gesture made by the PCs since Premier Brian Pallister saidhe wouldn't respond to threats from OmniTrax.

• Premier calls OmniTrax closure of Churchill port a 'leverage tactic'

'They have to start some serious negotiations'

Lloyd Axworthy, a former federal minister and former University of Winnipeg president,saidChurchill is a valuable heirloom for the country that needs investment or Canada will find out one day it's been lost.

Axworthy was the chair of theChurchill Gateway Development Corp. for several years but quit in frustration more than a year ago.

Axworthy saidthe previous provincial NDP government didn't put nearly enough effort into the Churchill file andthe new PC government has to step up to the table.

"They have to start some serious negotiations with[OmniTrax], the First Nations and the Government of Canada," Axworthy said.

The PCs have to understand that if the rail line to the port is not maintained, all the communities along the line will still have to be supplied and that will be expensive, Axworthy said. He also said he believesthere is a solid business case for expanding shipments into the north to communities such asIqaluit that are currently supplied through Montreal.

The federal government said it's studying the Churchill issue and has sent a senior bureaucrat from Western Economic Diversification to look at the problem first-hand.