The organization that represents Western Canada’s largest grain handling companies is citing problems with the way railway performance is reported and monitored in Canada.
Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevators Association, said his members, which include Viterra, Cargill and Richardson, still have an unclear understanding of the methods Canada’s major railways companies are using to report weekly grain movements.
Sobkowich said grain companies have no opportunity to scrutinize the weekly grain shipment reports that the railways submit to government.
Federal bureaucrats use the re-ports to determine whether railway companies are meeting federally imposed grain shipment targets and then whether the railways should be fined for failing to meet those targets.
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Sobkowich said the WGEA should have an opportunity to see the reporting procedures and identify areas where the accuracy of railway reporting might be breaking down.
“We don’t … see the information that the railways are providing to Transport Canada,” Sobkowich said.
“It’s a black hole to us, and when we ask for the information to be made available … we are not getting that from Transport Canada.”
WGEA recently asked Transport Canada for an opportunity to review railway data and reporting methodologies.
Ottawa denied the request but has since indicated it will levy fines against CN for failing to meet weekly grain shipping targets that were imposed by Ottawa.
“We had suspected that both CN and CP were not meeting the volume thresholds for a number of weeks now,” said Sobkowich.
“That prompted us to write the federal government in August and ask for greater transparency on the numbers.”
Sobkowich said WGEA was “pleasantly surprised” by Ottawa’s decision to levy fines against CN. However, he said problems with the reporting system still must be addressed.
