WINNIPEG – A group of farmers and longtime Churchill supporters is squaring off against a group of business people to try to buy the port and rail line.
Churchill Opportunities Foundation Inc. is a non-profit group looking for seed funding from farmers and municipalities for the venture.
It is led by Arnold Grambo of the Hudson Bay Route Association and Hugh Campbell, a pulse crop producer from Qu’Appelle, Sask.
“We believe we have all the right answers,” Grambo said.
The group would run the line and port like a co-operative, Grambo said, and will “put farmers first” in its decisions, ensuring profits go to farmers rather than a company.
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Grambo and Campbell were formerly part of a company called Gateway North Transportation System Ltd. that has already raised about $1 million in seed funding to buy the rail line and port.
The two groups vying for Churchill have “fundamentally different” perspectives, said John Jardine, secretary-treasurer for Gateway North Transportation System.
“There’s been a lot of people concerned about the two … initiatives as being kind of a divisive thing,” Jardine said. “On the other hand, maybe some competition never hurt anything.”
The company includes a short- line rail contractor, an engineering firm specializing in tundra, a construction firm, a fertilizer company, the former mayor of Churchill, and the former port of Churchill manager.
Jardine said his company is the only group now negotiating with CN to buy the rail line from Yorkton, Sask. to Churchill, plus some of the subdivisions feeding into it.
If negotiations with CN and the federal government are successful, Jardine said the company will raise more money for operating funds and infrastructure upgrades through a public share offering.
Grambo said he wishes there was only one group. “Perhaps we can get together,” he said, adding it would have to be on farmers’ terms.
Both groups have a representative on Gateway North International Inc., a marketing agency that arose from a government task force last year.
Terry Duguid, president of the agency, said the board of directors is not taking a public or direct role in commercializing the port. Its purpose is to increase the volume of grain and other freight moving through Churchill.
“I think the fact that there’s a lot of interest in Churchill and that it is generating some discussion is good for the marketing effort,” Duguid said.
“No one thought that anyone would be interested in Churchill and now there’s a number of groups, including ourselves, that are involved in some aspect of the issue.”
