RED DEER — A resolution to allow railways to be sued for poor performance was defeated in a tie vote during the Alberta Federation of Agriculture meeting.
Round Hill farmer Bernie von Tetternborn said grain companies and farmers need a way to hold railways accountable if they don’t meet their contracts to haul grain.
“Grain companies, some small, some big, make a contract with the railroads and are supposed to bring cars in, and they give half or have to wait another two weeks,” he said.
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“That’s a real penalty that the grain company has to absorb.”
Ken Eshpeter, chair of the Battle River Railway short line from Camrose to Alliance, said grain companies already have the ability to sue the railways for poor performance, but rarely do.
“I think the problem is, we as farmers think big grain is our friend and they’re acting on our behalf,” he said.
“In many instances they don’t care. They are able to download everything back to the producer. As long as you have a captive audience, they’re not particularly interested to sue anybody because they know the grain is out there.”
Mark Hemmes, president of Quorum Corp., said the grain industry must make its case through the existing regulatory process before it can sue railways for non-performance.
CWB pursued a level of service complaint against Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway in 1997. It first went through the regulatory process, which eventually resulted in a ruling that the shippers’ rights were violated. That gave it the right to pursue civil litigation.
“Before you can sue for damages, you have to have the regulatory path cleared for you,” Hemmes said.
“That process in the mid-’90s went pretty quickly. In recent years, railways would put every ounce of effort and dollars they can in protecting their position.”
Instead of pursuing the railways through the courts, Hemmes said a better way might be to lobby the federal government to alter legislation to force the railways to be accountable in their service agreements.
Herman Schwenk of Coronation opposed the resolution.
“I don’t think suing is the route to go,” he said.
“It would take years and make the lawyers rich. I think lobbying for a regulatory change and legislation will probably be more productive than actually trying to sue to accomplish the objective of the resolution.”
mary.macarthur@producer.com
