REGINA — Transportation issues, above all avoiding the fiasco of 2013 and 2014, are at the centre of discussions when Federal ministers Ralph Goodale and Lawrence MacAuley meet with farmers in Western Canada, the pair said Thursday.
MacAulay, the agriculture minister, said farmers have been heard “loud and clear” about the grain transportation issue and his government takes responsibility for ensuring the grain moves to market well.
“A bumper crop is the first thing in order for farmers to make money. Then it’s important (to ensure) the crop is moved for shipment. Then it’s our responsibility to make sure that’s done,” he said between agricultural stakeholder discussions in Regina, Thursday.
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“Every effort that can and could be taken, will be taken to ensure that the grain is moved more efficiently than it was (in 2013/14),” said the minister.
He said the railways have been in touch with him and the transportation minister and both CN and CP have expressed that they are ready to move the larger-than-the-five-year average crop that is expected to roll in the from Western Canadian fields over the next month.
“The (Emerson) transportation review is in place and it will be looked at” with respect to how the railways will be observed by the government.
Goodale said the Emerson Report put considerable emphasis on the need for transparency in the system and “that is something that is not in the Canadian system today.”
“People need to know the facts and have the data upon which to make sound decisions,” said the Saskatchewan Member of Parliament.
“This set of discussions (going on in Regina) is part of the ongoing discussions with the grain transportation issue,” he said.
Goodale said government listening to farmers is more important than ever because they are “less aggressively represented” in Ottawa and in the boardrooms of the nation “than they were in the past.”
Over the past 15 years the loss of the Canadian Wheat Board and the Prairie Pools lobbying forces has reduced the volume of producer voices when it comes to issues such as market and transportation transparency.
“The railways need to know they are under special scrutiny because of how that crop season went three years ago. They and the grain companies did not perform up to the standard that farmers would expect and they need to understand that everyone will be looking very closely in this crop year,” he said.
Emerson will be making a response to his report in the coming weeks and the agriculture ministry will be considering the grain area of his comments closely, said MacAulay.
“Ralph and I have been very active on the grain transportation and agriculture issues,” he said.
Canadian Pacific Railway issued a statement on Aug. 17 calling on the grain companies to be prepared to ship the grain and indicating that it was in a position with railcars and logistics to move its share of the Western Canadian harvest.
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