Canadian transport minister David Collenette last week for the first time promised grain transportation reform legislation will be introduced into Parliament within weeks, keeping alive the faint hope that changes can be implemented by Aug. 1.
Until last week, as the issue remained mired in cabinet, he had always said he “hoped” for legislation.
And after meeting the minister last week, Saskatchewan Wheat Pool president Marvin Wiens said in an interview that he expects the government proposal will be a compromise, diminishing the Canadian Wheat Board’s transportation role gradually.
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“He committed to trying to get reform in by Aug. 1,” said Wiens. “Our sense is the announcement will be soon.”
He suggested the wheat board’s involvement in the transportation system could be diminished quickly by 25 percent, with a proviso that it could be gradually phased out of transportation involvement east of the ships in Vancouver.
But opposition MPs said they were skeptical about government intentions. They saw a political trap developing.
Collenette said in an interview last week that legislation will not be introduced before next week, if then. There is Parliament Hill speculation it will not be ready before the week of May 29, since cabinet still has not approved the final compromise.
Opposition MPs said there may be a deliberate strategy to leave the announcement so late that opposition MPs in the House of Commons and senators will have almost no time to debate the legislation before Parliament adjourns for the summer, which will be no later than June 24.
The government could contend that if the bill is not approved quickly with little debate, opposition parties will be responsible for the fact that transportation savings are not available to farmers Aug. 1.
Instead, without new legislation, farmers will face a 4.5 percent freight increase.
“It looks like they are setting us up for a ‘my way or the highway’ approach,” said New Democrat Dick Proctor. “We want farmers to get the benefits but if this lays the path for getting the wheat board out of it, I think I know where our caucus would go.”
Canadian Alliance MP Howard Hilstrom said his party will support legislation if it provides real reform, commercializes the system and cuts freight costs.
If it does not meet those tests “we will move amendments and demand debate,” he said. If the Aug. 1 deadline passes without the new system “it will be the government’s fault, not ours. They have sat on this for more than a year.”
In the House of Commons, when he promised that cabinet will make a decision and produce a new policy, Collenette seemed to signal the ‘blame the opposition’ strategy.
“Shortly, I will be coming before the House with a package of reforms, which will be fair and equitable,” he said. “The bottom line is that those reforms will benefit western farmers. I hope the Reform or Alliance Party will be there to support the bill when it comes in.”
The timing will be tight, even without extensive debate.
With four weeks or less of parliamentary time available to deal with such a contentious issue, the government must make time for a Commons debate to approve it in principle, committee hearings and final debate in the Commons. In the Commons, the government has the power to cut off debate if some opposition members cannot stomach the compromise and want to fight.
Then, the bill must go through the same steps in the Senate and there, the government does not have the tools to limit debate.
“Everyone agrees we have to move to a more competitive system,” Collenette said in an interview. “The question is how fast, at what pace? To what degree do you move, how much competitiveness do you introduce over what period of time? If this is not done in Parliament in June, we lose a year.”
