PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. – Arnold Grambo was quick to voice frustration Aug. 30 about the planned overhaul of Western Canada’s grain handling and transportation system.
At a plenary session held here to work on that reform, the president of the Hudson Bay Route Association said the proposed changes do nothing to get more grain moved through the port of Churchill.
“We’re no better off than we were before,” said Grambo. “In fact we’re much worse off.”
He worries about car allocation being placed in the hands of grain companies and the railroads.
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Grain companies have no interest in shipping grain through Churchill, Grambo said. And the railway companies have dug in their heels on the issue of common running rights.
About 300,000 tonnes of grain will move through Churchill this year. Grambo would like to see that amount rise to two million tonnes each year.
The Churchill port could save prairie farmers money if it was used more, he said. But the only agency directing grain to the port is the Canadian Wheat Board.
“Farmers need more clout in terms of where their product’s going,” he said.
The committee working on ways to implement Estey’s recommendations expects to file its final report Sept. 30.
In terms of the Churchill port, Grambo said the committee has put forward nothing more than “window dressing and tokenism.”
Arthur Kroeger said it is not part of his committee’s mandate to recommend changes that would see more produce bound for Churchill. It’s up to the port owner to convince grain companies that there are advantages to shipping through there, he said.
Sinclair Harrison, of the Sask-atchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, said the fate of the Churchill port hinges on what future role farmers have in setting grain and transportation policy. Grain companies and railways have most of the clout, he said, because they own much of the infrastructure needed to move grain.
“None of the grain companies have a nickel invested (at the Churchill port), so they shove no grain through there, even though it’s cheaper for the farmer.”
