The grain industry is on federal transport minister David Collenette’s holiday gift list.
He will announce some details of the grain transportation review by then, even though he has said it won’t proceed formally until the Canadian Transportation Agency has dealt with the Canadian Wheat Board’s complaint of poor performance by the railways last winter. Those hearings begin March 30.
The review, originally slated for 1999 to review the grain freight rate cap, will start early in part because of pressure flowing from last winter’s backlog which cost prairie grain farmers about $65 million in demurrage and lost sales.
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“Hopefully by Christmas, we’ll be in a position to give people a signal as to the way we’re going in terms of how we’re going to conduct the review and who will conduct the review and under what auspices,” said Collenette.
Preparatory work has started and he suggested the review may be wrapped around the CTA inquiry. It will be conducted by an independent person able to analyze the system impartially and make recommendations for change.
“I don’t think anything should be precluded from the review,” he said. “The terms of reference have to be wide in scope and I think we have to be bold. We want to know where the bottlenecks are, how can they be avoided, how can we improve the logistics … the whole operation.”
The minister would not reveal his preferred outcome. He said the inquiry should examine the impact of deregulation already undertaken.
“The deregulation that’s gone on in the transportation sector in the past number of years by and large has been the right thing to do, but at a certain point in time, governments have to deal with the fallout where it could mean reduction of service, elimination of service, lack of competition,” he said.
“Ultimately, we are responsible for the total picture … we can’t leave people entirely to the mercy of market forces in every instance.”
