OTTAWA (Staff) – The federal government plans to free terminal elevator operators from maximum tariff restrictions as a way to encourage seven-day-a-week grain handling.
But agriculture minister Ralph Goodale said this should not be seen as a licence to increase company profits.
He said maximum tariff levels will be abolished to allow port terminal operators to make enough money to offset higher costs from weekend grain handler shifts.
Goodale insisted that competition between terminal operators will keep the charges at reasonable levels.
The fact that most terminals are farmer-owned co-operatives also will act as a discipline on tariff levels, he told a Commons committee June 8.
If all else fails and terminal tariffs are set higher than the government considers necessary, Good-ale said the Canadian Grain Commission still will have the power to intervene.
Currently, the grain commission establishes the maximum tariff level terminals can charge.
Goodale told MPs that grain companies have indicated they will not raise their terminal tariffs before Aug. 1, the beginning of the new crop year.
