The Canadian Wheat Board is going ahead with preparations to sue CP Rail, even as the railway says it wants to settle its dispute with the grain marketing agency out of court.
“It’s under way,” said CWB spokesperson Deanna Allen. “The legal team is working on it.”
The board wants to recover millions of dollars in damages it says farmers suffered as a result of CP’s grain shipping performance in the winter of 1996-97.
The Canadian Transportation Agency ruled Sept. 30 that CP breached its statutory service obligations by discriminating against grain in favor of other bulk commodities moving to Vancouver.
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Both sides talking
CP spokesperson Ian La Couvee said the two sides have met to discuss a negotiated settlement, but wouldn’t say how those talks have gone.
“We can’t comment on anything that has been discussed to date, but it should be noted that we have been and are very open to discussions,” he said. “Dialogue is always better than a confrontational legal proceeding.”
The wheat board says farmers lost an estimated $50 million in revenue from cancelled or deferred sales arising from that winter’s shipping problems.
The board has suggested CP’s share of that would be about $30 million. In April the board negotiated a settlement with CN Rail, providing financial and other compensation to prairie farmers, but no details have been made public. CN did not admit to any wrongdoing.
Allen declined to comment on an out-of-court settlement with CP. Board officials have stated previously that they would also prefer to settle the dispute through negotiation.
No appeal
La Couvee also said CP has decided not to appeal the CTA decision.
In that ruling, the agency said that while severe winter weather hampered railway operations and CP couldn’t have been expected to meet all of its shipping targets, when the worst of the weather was over and the system began to recover, CP gave preferential treatment to other commodities, especially coal.
The board’s complaint was the subject of 32 days of public hearings in Saskatoon last spring.
