A company founded by a group of former CN Rail employees has been put in charge of monitoring the grain handling and transportation system.
But the leader of the monitoring group said that doesn’t mean farmers and shippers need fear a pro-railway bias.
“All of our ties to CN have been cut a long time ago,” said Mark Hemmes, president of Quorum Corp.
If anything, he said, the company’s background will enable it do a better job of judging how well the railways are hauling grain.
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“We certainly have a better understanding of where they’re coming from and can have well-educated arguments with them,” he said.
The Edmonton-based transportation and logistics consulting company was hired last week by the federal government to gather information and file reports on how the grain handling and transportation system is working.
Quorum, which now boasts 16 full-time and 22 part-time employees, was started two years ago by three ex-CN employees. Two of them will be working full time on the grain monitoring project including Hemmes, a former general manager of marketing for Western Canada for CN.
The monitoring group will also include several non-railway people, including Shelly Thompson, a former Saskatchewan Wheat Pool employee and Bruce McFadden, who spent 12 years at the Grain Transportation Agency.
“They will more than outweigh any tendency that we may have to think of things strictly from a railway perspective,” said Hemmes.
Grain industry and farm officials said last week they weren’t too concerned by Quorum’s roots with CN.
“I’m sure they’re professional people and were selected on that basis,” said Canadian Wheat Board chair Ken Ritter, adding there’s a good chance anyone with expertise in grain transportation will have worked for a railway.
“Obviously you need people with some background in the industry,” he said.
Francois Catellier of the Canadian Special Crops Association said farmers and shippers could benefit by having people with an extensive knowledge of railway operations doing the monitoring.
Meanwhile, CN Rail spokesperson Jim Feeny said the railway neither wants nor expects to receive any special treatment.
“We expect the monitoring process will be impartial and accurate no matter who is carrying it out.”
Rod Scarlett of Wild Rose Agricultural Producers said it’s important that farmers be directly involved in the monitoring, suggesting that a subcommittee devoted to producer input might be a good idea.
Hemmes said the company intends to get as much input as possible from industry stakeholders, including farmers.
He added that working with a variety of short line, community and municipal groups over the past two years, after a career as a railroader, has been eye opening.
“You have a tendency in the railway to have an isolated view of how things work,” he said.
“When you come outside that, it’s a rude awakening.”
The appointment of a monitor was part of the federal government’s May 2000 grain transportation reform package.
Its main job is to develop measures to keep track of such things as system efficiency and reliability, how savings are passed back to farmers, short-term operational issues, CWB tendering, whether the board’s marketing mandate is being affected, commercial relations and freight and handling rates.
It will also file quarterly and annual reports to the government, identifying any problems and suggesting causes.
Hemmes said Quorum’s job is to gather data and information and pass it on to government and industry. It won’t get involved in contentious policy debates.
“We will not be offering our opinion on what the solutions are.”
