Transport minister David Collenette last week said his new grain transportation policy will not be unveiled until May, if then.
MPs from both sides of the House of Commons predicted that could be the death knell for reform this year.
The government has promised new rules for grain transportation and car allocation in this parliamentary session, to have it in effect for Aug. 1.
But cabinet has been locked in a battle over how much involvement the Canadian Wheat Board should have in organizing grain shipments off the Prairies.
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On March 31, Collenette told the Commons the earliest he will introduce legislation is May.
“I am still hopeful that despite the heavy legislative load the House has, we will be able to bring in a bill after the Easter recess,” he told Reform MP Howard Hilstrom. “I hope the opposition will co-operate with us fully.”
Opposition MPs quickly said the government has run out of time.
To have controversial legislation approved by both the Commons and the Senate by mid-June when Parliament rises for the summer, a bill would have been necessary much earlier than May, they said.
Even with the government’s ability to limit Commons debate, legislation requires two rounds of debate and committee hearings in the Commons and then the same routine in the Senate.
“Clearly, the government has decided not to move this year and that will cost farmers $300 million,” said Hilstrom, who favors removing the CWB from the grain transportation system.
“I think we have run out of time, quite frankly,” agreed New Democrat Dick Proctor.
“I just don’t see that the system has the capacity to deal with this quickly enough to have it in place by Aug. 1.”
Larry McCormick, chair of the Liberal rural caucus, expressed the same reservation in an interview.
“We have been encouraging the transport minister to move on this because we are running out of time and that is unfortunate,” McCormick said.
Missing the Aug. 1 deadline will mean a delay of at least one year and with 2001 being an election year, progress in the Commons will be unpredictable.
Collenette made his comments after a raucous exchange in the Commons March 31 during which Reform MPs reacted to news from the recent Liberal convention where delegates and MPs in favor of a continued wheat board transportation role succeeded in getting a pro-CWB resolution approved.
“It looks as if the Canadian Wheat Board tail is wagging the Liberal dog,” complained Hilstrom.
“Why is the transport minister allowing the wheat board to dictate transportation policy?” asked Battlefords-Lloydminster Reform MP Gerry Ritz.
Collenette, who has been fighting inside cabinet for a solution that minimizes the wheat board role in favor of a contract system between railways and grain shippers, took on a decidedly pro-CWB hue in his responses.
“Certainly, the role of the Canadian Wheat Board has been a very important one to Canada’s economy and will continue to be in the years to come,” said the Toronto MP.
“The question is to what degree the board will continue to have an involvement in the transportation of grains.”
