Former Alberta politician Jim Dinning has been appointed to lead a six-month process to enhance national rail freight service.
Dinning, who held numerous positions in Alberta’s provincial cabinet in the 1980s and 1990s, including finance minister, now serves on a number of corporate boards and is chancellor for the University of Calgary.
His appointment was announced Oct. 31 by federal transport minister Denis Lebel.
Dinning is tasked with making recommendations based on results from a rail freight service review presented to the federal government in December 2010. The government promised in March 2011 to take action on the review and has been criticized by some shippers for apparent delays in the process.
According to a federal government news release, the expected outcome of Dinning’s work will be “a template for service agreements and a streamlined commercial dispute resolution process.”
The release also said the federal government plans to table legislation that will give shippers the right to service agreements with railways, even when commercial negotiations fail.
An analysis of grain supply chain systems was also promised in the Oct. 31 announcement “to focus on issues that affect that sector and identify potential solutions.”
The Rail Freight Service Review was launched in 2008 and chaired by another Alberta politician, former agriculture minister Walter Paszkowski.
