Federal transport minister Lisa Raitt says she understands the six months or more it will take to clear up the grain backlog on the Prairies is not acceptable to farmers.
“From a farmer’s point of view, no,” she told reporters after speaking to the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities annual convention.
“But the reality is that’s what the system can do at the moment.”
She said the legislation that the federal government intends to impose on the transportation system will be ready to go once Parliament resumes March 24, but she would not reveal any of the details.
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As the harvest in southern Alberta presses on, a broker said that is one of the factors pulling feed prices lower in the region. Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, added that lower cattle numbers in feedlots, plentiful amounts of grass for cattle to graze and a lacklustre export market also weighed on feed prices.
One SARM delegate asked Raitt if any of the fines that the railways might pay as a result of non-performance could go to agricultural research or back to producers. She replied the government is looking at all the options. However, the current legislation sets out the maximum amount of the fines — $100,000 per day — and to whom the fines are paid.
Raitt also said the government wasn’t actually interested in being in the fine-collection business.
“We want them to move the grain,” she said. “That’s the whole point of issuing this directive.”
Federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz, whose officials are also involved in drafting the new legislation, is scheduled to speak to the SARM convention this afternoon.
