Farmers and others in the grain handling industry are expected to have a new shippers’ rights law on the books sometime this week, despite opposition from railways and tepid support from shippers.
The Senate was poised to approve the new freight bill later this week after deadlines for this issue, after it was approved June 12 by the Senate transport committee over Liberal objections.
The Conservative majority rejected all amendments to strengthen shipper rights in the bill.
From committee, Bill C-52, the Fair Rail Freight Service Act, went to the Senate for final debate and approval into law before Parliament adjourns for the summer.
Read Also
European wheat production makes big recovery
EU crop prospects are vastly improved, which could mean fewer canola and durum imports from Canada.
It marks the first time that commodity shippers, including those in agriculture, have the right to ask the Canadian Transportation Agency to impose a service level agreement on the railways if a commercial agreement between a shipper and a carrier cannot be worked out.
Failure to live up to the agreement could cost the railways fines of up to $100,000 for each incident.
However, personal compensation to shippers for damages caused by a railway’s failure to deliver cars will come only from an appeal to the courts.
Shippers used their last Parliament Hill appearance on the bill to argue that shippers’ rights should be strengthened because the bill is weak and favours the railways. They proposed six amendments.
However, most also argued that senators should approve the bill if the options are to accept it in its present flawed form or risk losing it if the parliamentary session ends this summer and all unapproved legislation is lost.
If the bill is approved now, shippers hope it can be strengthened when Parliament reviews the Canadian Transportation Act in 2015.
“I think we are afraid of losing it,” Grain Growers of Canada executive director Richard Phillips responded in answer to a senator query about the mixed message from shippers.
He said shippers were pressing their case for amendments, even though they are willing to accept the flawed bill without them, in order to get their objections on the record.
For their part, the railways insisted they are doing a good job, and legislation or new regulations are unnecessary.
Shippers and the government say they believe that the two national railways operate as quasi-monopolies, but Railway Association of Canada president Michael Bourque said that is not reality.
“There is competition,” he told senators June 12.
“Railways, including CN and CP, compete vigorously with each other for business but also with other modes of transport.”
He said shippers are often the problem when there are complaints of poor service at shipping points.
Liberal senators offered different advice to the Conservative government.
“I think the sponsor of the motion should consider sending this back to the drawing board,” said Liberal senator Art Eggleton, during the final meeting on the legislation at the Senate transport committee. “None of them want this bill.”
But Conservative senators suggested that the fact no one likes the bill is a good thing.
“I think senator Eggleton’s intervention points out that the bill is perfectly balanced because the two sides to the issue disagree with the bill for different reasons,” Nova Scotia Conservative Stephen Greene said.
“One says the amendments go too far and the other side says it does not go far enough. It is perfectly balanced.”
Alberta Conservative Betty Unger, sponsor of C-52 in the Senate, noted that despite opposition complaints, the bill passed unanimously in the House of Commons.
“It is a step in the right direction,” she said. “When both sides are not completely happy, it has to be right. It strikes the right balance. Striking the right balance in an imperfect market relationship is accomplishing something.”
Eggleton dismissed the government argument as absurd and as a mockery of why the Senate holds debates and public hearings.
