Liberal MP Ralph Goodale says the Conservative government has had nine years to improve rail service for prairie farmers, but during that time they have accomplished “the square root of nothing.”
Goodale made the comments March 13, a day after prime minister Stephen Harper told an audience in Saskatoon that Ottawa would not let Canada’s two biggest rail companies “dictate to the market just what they think is satisfactory.”
“The deficient rail system that we are burdened with today is the one designed and imposed by the Harper government,” Goodale said in a statement.
Read Also
Supreme Court gives thumbs-up emoji case the thumbs down
Saskatchewan farmer wanted to appeal the court decision that a thumbs-up emoji served as a signature to a grain delivery contract.
“They’ve been talking and tinkering for nearly a decade, and they’ve accomplished the square root of nothing.”
With a federal election looming and a federal review of the Canada Transportation Act half way through its mandate, the issue of rail service has emerged as a key campaign issue in Western Canada.
Take our poll below
Federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz recently said he would like to see a new relationship between railways and shippers based on commercial contracts that include reciprocal monetary penalties.
Ritz said Ottawa is still considering an extension of a federal order that requires Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway to haul minimum weekly amounts of prairie grain or face fines as high as $100,000 per week.
The federal order is due to expire at the end of the month, but Ottawa has the authority to renew it if rail service to grain shippers is deemed inadequate.
Goodale has been a vocal critic of Ottawa’s efforts to ensure better rail service for farmers and prairie grain shippers.
“This issue started in 2007, but from old Bill C-58 way back then, through the lengthy Rail Freight Service Review process, and the subsequent review of that review, and two more pieces of legislation and two orders in council, and more than $5 billion in costs and losses imposed on farmers, the problems still aren’t solved,” he said.
“This chronic failure over nine years has damaged the incomes of western farmers. It has also been costly for the national economy and for Canada’s reputation as a reliable grain supplier.”
It remains to be seen what impact the CTA review will have, Goodale added.
A federally appointed CTA review panel is due to file an interim report to government before the federal election this fall.
The review panel is being chaired by David Emerson, a former Conservative MP who also served as co-chair of a federal public service advisory committee along with former CN president Paul Tellier.
Goodale is no stranger to the politically sensitive issue of prairie grain movement.
He served as federal agriculture minister under former prime minister Jean Chretien from 1993-97.
During that time, the Liberal government privatized CN, eliminated shipping subsidies that benefited prairie farmers and approved the Western Grain Transition Payment program, a one-time $1.6 billion compensation package aimed at easing farmers and landowners into a more commercial shipping environment with less government regulation.
brian.cross@producer.com
[yop_poll id=”11″]
