FREDERICTON, N.B. – Canada’s largest farm lobby is urging the federal government to maintain the maximum grain freight rate that now exists in law.
And it wants the Canadian Wheat Board to continue to have a say in grain transportation decisions on movement from the Prairies to the West Coast.
Last week, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture board of directors approved a policy aimed at influencing the final report of the Estey Commission, and the federal response to it.
The CFA said proposals to Justice Willard Estey that the maximum freight rate on grain movement should be scrapped are wrongheaded.
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“CFA believes that until true competition exists, or sufficient regulatory protection is provided through other means, the maximum freight rate scale must continue,” the CFA said after a board meeting July 24.
The railways have argued that the maximum rate should be abolished because it restricts their ability to compete.
The CFA also took aim at those who have told Estey the wheat board should have a role in export grain only when it reaches the West Coast. It said the current Car Allocation Policy Group system of allocating rail cars, including the CWB, is proper.
“This preserves the CWB’s role in transportation, while at the same time allowing the system to adapt to achieve increased efficiency and cost savings,” says the CFA policy.
Share with farmers
The farm lobby also demanded last week that Ottawa require the railways to pass back to farmers some of the savings that come from “increased railway efficiency and profitability.” Farmers’ guarantee of a share in productivity gains was lost when the Liberal government abolished the Western Grain Transportation Act in 1995.
The farm lobby also is demanding that British Columbia users of prairie feed grain be given the same break as export customers.
The maximum freight rate applies to grain moved from the Prairies to West Coast ports for export. B.C. feed users must pay commercial rates which often exceed the maximum.
“This has had a detrimental effect on the supply and price of feed grains for livestock and poultry industries … in British Columbia,” said the CFA.
Domestic feed grain moving east to Thunder Bay is covered by the freight rate cap.
