Public hearings into Canada’s grain transportation system could have such lofty consequences that the federal agency hearing the case agreed to delay the process until next spring.
The Canadian Transportation Agency ruled Monday that three weeks of public hearings into a Canadian Wheat Board complaint about the railways’ grain hauling will begin March 30, 1998 in Saskatoon.
That’s nine months after the board first took its concerns to the agency.
CTA spokesperson Charles Mojsej said earlier the case could set the stage for the wheat board to take the railways to court to claim damages of up to $65 million for Canadian farmers.
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Although the agency is “deeply concerned” about the length of time since this matter was first raised, it recognizes the importance that the CWB’s new counsel be fully prepared and the “unfairness which a January hearing will cause the railways,” said a CTA release.
The board was ordered to find new legal counsel last month after CP Rail won a conflict-of-interest challenge.
Hearings were set to go ahead in November, but the board said its lawyers needed more time to prepare and instead suggested January.
The railways said January wouldn’t work because their top staff would be concentrating on moving grain.
