Prairie grain handling companies and the Canadian Wheat Board are still talking about grain transportation.
However, they’ve decided not to tell farmers what they’re saying.
The two sides have been talking in earnest since formal meetings resumed on Jan. 25.
But the highly charged press releases, news conferences and public rhetoric that marked discussions last summer and fall have disappeared, replaced by a tightly adhered-to policy of silence.
“I really can’t say anything,” CWB chief executive officer Greg Arason said.
“We’ve all agreed we won’t negotiate this in the press.”
Read Also
Anti-separatist movement targets rural Alberta
Former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk’s anti-separatism Alberta Forever Canada petition campaign expects to run full steam ahead into the province’s farming regions
Western Grain Elevator Association spokesperson Ed Guest didn’t have much to say either.
The two sides remain divided on a number of basic issues, he said, “but I can’t go into what they are because that’s part of the discussions.”
Senior officials from the board and WGEA met behind closed doors for three days in Winnipeg at the end of January, following which the board made a formal proposal to the elevator companies.
Discussions since then have been based on that document. The WGEA will present a written response to the board this week, with the two sides slated to meet again Feb. 19.
The current handling agreement between the board and grain companies was to expire Feb. 15, but both sides agreed to extend it to allow talks to continue.
Before heading into the latest round of talks in January, several months of negotiations had left the two sides far apart on a number of key grain handling and transportation issues.
The disagreements include such things as the board’s system of issuing commercial tenders for grain movement, deciding who is the legal shipper of CWB grain and allocating rail cars to pick up grain at country elevators.
The board says it must have a significant role in day-to-day transportation planning and operations, while the grain companies want to control transportation logistics from country elevators to export position.
CWB spokesperson Justin Kohlman said while there are no major breakthroughs to report, the fact that the two sides have continued talking for the past couple of weeks is a good sign.
“I think generally the mood is certainly positive.”
But Guest cautioned that the two sides won’t be resolving their differences any time soon.
“I think we still have some very strong philosophical views and opinions and positions that have to be overcome,” he said.
