Top Iron Range, Canadian officials to meet in Hibbing Tuesday

Things you see through your windshield at train crossings on the Iron Range.

Tmrw, 11:30, Hibbing: Canada and #IronRange convo w/ @IRRRB @Tonysertich @Jamshed_MPLS cc: @duluthnews @minnesotabrown @HibbDailyTrib @mntoday
— Canada in Mpls (@CanCGMPLS) August 12, 2013

When the Canadian consul general’s office tweets you, you’d better pay attention. Canada’s top Midwestern official, Jamshed Merchant, will meet with Tony Sertich, Commissioner of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board, Tuesday at 11:30 p.m. at Hibbing Community College. It’s a public meeting where the economic relationship between Canada and northern Minnesota will be discussed.

That’s no small thing, as a lot of goods pass over the border and Canadian National owns the train lines of the mighty Duluth Missabe and Iron Range Railroad (DM and IR), which moved, and (as CN) continues to move, vast amounts of the region’s iron ore over the past century. Some days you can stand by the tracks and watch maple leafs go by like, well, actual maple leafs.

So if you’re interested, check out the meeting, if only to see what actual Canadians look like when they aren’t hosting Jeopardy or fronting for the band Crazy Horse. Rumors of negotiations to trade Cook County to Ontario for 55 tons of poutine are just that: rumors.