The Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association says Ottawa needs to take additional measures to hold railway companies accountable for their performance.
“Like every other player in the system, the railways need to be held accountable for their performance,” said president Levi Wood.
“Current measures fall well short.”
Wood was responding to news last week that the penalties levied against railways for failing to meet weekly grain shipment targets are $100,000 per violation rather than $100,000 per day as Ottawa had previously suggested.
The association, which has about 450 members, called fines of $100,000 per violation “a paltry amount when compared to the average weekly freight revenue earned by CN ($184 million) or CP ($115 million).”
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WCWGA would like to see fines of $1 million per violation.
It also wants Ottawa to give grain shippers the ability to ensure reciprocal penalties can be included in service agreements with the railways.
Shippers are not able to seek arbitration with respect to the inclusion of such penalties in service agreements.Â
“The government has taken steps in the right direction,” Wood said. “However reciprocal penalties and a $1 million fine per violation are needed to hold the railways to account.”
The federal government indicated that penalties for non-compliance would be as high as $100,000 per day when it passed an order in March requiring Canada’s major railway companies to move 500,000 tonnes of grain per week.Â
However, provisions contained in the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act (Bill C-30) said penalties can go as high as $100,000 per violation.
The offices of federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz and federal transport minister Lisa Raitt declined an interview request, but confirmed in an email that fines are assessed per violation based on weekly requirements.
Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevators Association, said he is still not sure if fines will be levied on a daily, weekly or per violation basis.
“If a change has truly been made, then neither the WGEA nor its members were informed.”
Raitt responded to questions by NDP agriculture critic Malcolm Allen in the House of Commons last week by suggesting Ottawa has consistently stood up for farmers’ interests.
“CN has not hit their limits,” she said. “We will enforce. They are in violation and we’ll continue to make sure that we protect … grain farmers in Canada.”
As of Sept. 29, neither Raitt nor officials from Canadian National Railway would say how much CN has been fined for failing to comply with Ottawa’s order to move 500,000 tonnes of grain per week.
