The federal government has announced establishment of the panel that will lead a review of rail freight service performance, led by former Alberta Progressive Conservative agriculture minister Walter Paszkowski.
The panel is being told to have a report prepared by summer 2010.
The rail service review was promised by the Conservative government as a compromise to get amendments to the Canada Transportation Act through Parliament and into law in February 2008.
The panel will consult with shippers and the railways and recommend how service can become better and more reliable.
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Rick White from the Canadian Canola Growers’ Association last week urged MPs to move quickly once the service review report is complete.
“We’re going to need some help getting those recommendations implemented where the rubber hits the road and we’re trying to get rail service up to snuff to the benefit of our growers,” he told MPs on the House of Commons agriculture committee Sept. 17.
At press time Sept. 21, it was expected that minister of state for transport Rob Merrifield would announce the panel membership and mandate
Sept. 23.
Merrifield decided that the panel will comprise:
n Paszkowski of Sexsmith, Alta., who served as Alberta agriculture minister in the 1990s. He retired from politics in 2001.
n David Edison, a longtime Canadian National Railway executive who was in charge of the integration of BC Rail into the CN system after 2003.
n Bill LeGrow, former vice-president for transportation and energy of the British Columbia forestry company West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. He retired in 2008.
Meanwhile, the influential and Conservative-connected farm lobby Grain Growers of Canada changed positions last week and called for a costing review to supplement the rail service review.
GGC has argued in the past that the service review should be completed before any review of railway freight charges compared to costs is launched.
