The federal government’s rail freight service review panel will travel across the country to consult with stakeholders, including farm and grain industry groups in Western Canada.
Panel chair Walter Paszkowski said it’s important to meet directly with shippers and others affected by rail service and hear their concerns.
“We will be travelling to acquaint ourselves with the issues and with things we don’t feel knowledgeable about,” he said.
It’s too early to provide details of the panel’s travel plans, he added.
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The decision will please farm and grain industry groups in Western Canada, which had earlier called for the panel to meet directly with shippers and farmers on their home ground.
“I certainly hope they travel, at least to Western Canada,” said Keystone Agricultural Producers vice-president Robert McLain before hearing about Paszkowski’s promise to hit the road. “I wouldn’t want to see the panel just stuck in Ottawa and make us come to them.”
He said ongoing complaints about grain service were a major reason the review was set up in the first place.
Paszkowski, who served as Alberta’s agriculture and transportation minister in the 1990s, was recently named chair of the three-member panel conducting the review.
Ottawa announced the rail freight service review in April 2008.
The panel, which plans to begin its work quickly, is to submit a report to the government by mid-2010.
Paszkowski said it’s a huge job to review the level of service in all aspects of Canada’s rail system, including rail companies, shippers, terminal operators, port operations and vessels.
“It’s a very daunting task, but transportation is something that has been very close to my heart through the years,” said, Paszkowski who made a submission to the Estey review.
He said he goes into the review believing that rail service can be made better.
“I don’t think there’s anything that can’t be improved,” he said.
“We’ll be looking at every possible avenue to see that we have the best system we can possibly achieve.”
He declined to speculate what form the panel’s review process or recommendations will take, although he did say that setting performance benchmarks for railways and shippers will be considered.
“Benchmarks can be significant in providing measures to judge performance and progress,” he said.
The panel is charged with reviewing rail service for all commodities in all regions of the country, which has prompted grain industry officials to express concern that unique grain-related issues may get lost in the shuffle.
Paszkowski said that won’t happen.
“Everything will get a good look,” he said.
