Ottawa hasn’t decided if it will renew a federal order requiring Canada’s major railway companies to meet minimum weekly targets for grain movement.
However, federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz isn’t ruling it out. He said the order could be renewed beyond its current March 28 expiry date.
The federal order requires Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway to move 345,000 to 465,000 tonnes of grain per week between now and the end of the month.
“Is it possible to extend it? Absolutely,” Ritz said.
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“We’ll have to wait and see what the reserves are at that point.”
The 2014-15 crop year is now half over and railway performance and grain transportation are vastly improved over last year.
However, Ritz said there is still room for improvement.
Small shippers, including short-line railways, producer car loaders and shippers who use secondary, non-regulated rail corridors to the United States and Eastern Canada, are still not receiving adequate service.
“The railways are doing really well cherry picking (grain from) the main lines, but as soon as you start to get beyond that into the (secondary corridors) … a lot of cars have gone missing,” Ritz said.
“There’s still lots of work to be done.”
A federal election is due to take place in fewer than eight months, and pressure is building on the Conservative government to show it has a firm handle on transportation issues.
Grain transportation and railway performance have been hot topics in Western Canada for the past year following a costly system breakdown in the winter of 2013-14.
Overall, the system’s performance has improved significantly, compared to this time last year, Ritz said.
“It’s definitely better than last year.… I mean, are we at 100 percent yet? No. Is 100 percent attainable? Probably not because there are too many variables. But at the end of the day, I think the overall shipping chain is starting to recognize that they are just that, a chain. And each link is only as strong as the one preceding it or going beyond it.”
Ritz said grain and railway companies need to work together to ensure that their interests and the interests of farmers are adequately served. He also said commercial agreements between shippers and railways should play a larger role in ensuring an efficient grain transportation system.
He said a federally appointed panel charged with reviewing the Canada Transportation Act is expected to submit an interim report to government before the fall election.
