Final stages of approval | Despite criticism from shippers, Bill C-52 gains support from opposition parties
MPs are in the final stages of approving legislation that for the first time will give railway shipping customers the right to demand a service agreement with the carriers.
Railways have opposed the legislation as unnecessary, preferring commercial agreements negotiated between both sides.
The House of Commons started final debate on Bill C-52 last week and with all parties in favour, it will be approved within days and sent to the Senate for final debate and approval before Parliament rises in late June.
Opposition transport critic Olivia Chow said in the Commons May 23 that while the legislation does not go far enough to protect shippers, New Democrats will support it as at least a start in correcting the market power imbalance between railways and shippers.
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“Flawed as the legislation is, we as New Democrats support the bill because it is better than nothing, but there is a lot of room for improvement,” she said
Chow also called for legislation to more stringently regulate railway charges.
“We also need a second piece of legislation that would provide a level playing field and deal with pricing,” she said. “How much should it really be? How much should it cost? What would be the upper and the lower range? We need to let the market dictate pricing, but because the market is completely skewed right now, there is no competition.”
Despite criticism of the legislation, Liberals also told the Commons they will support it.
With the government rushing during extended daily sittings to pass all bills on the agenda before Parliament adjourns for the summer in late June, Bill C-52 is on target to be approved soon and then go to the Senate for final debate and passage into law.
At the Commons transport committee, the Coalition of Rail Shippers proposed six amendments to the bill to strengthen shipper rights and railway obligations but the Conservative majority rejected them.
The coalition will propose the amendments again when the bill gets to a Senate committee but the Conservative majority likely will reject the proposals again.
During the May 23 Commons debate, Winnipeg Conservative Lawrence Toet noted that both shipper and railway amendment proposals were rejected — the shippers because they wanted to make the legislation too specific and the railways because they wanted to water it down to the extent that it would be meaningless.
“The shippers suggested some amendments that the committee ultimately judged, after careful consideration, as unacceptable,” he argued. He cited two reasons.
“First, many of the amendments were contrary to the approach to arbitration in Bill C-52, which would give the arbitrator broad discretion to impose the right service contract for a particular situation, in recognition of the fact that each situation is different and there is no one-size-fits-all solution,” said Toet. “Second, some of the shipper amendments were not possible because of inherent legal risks associated with the proposals, which in some cases would be unprecedented concepts in Canadian law.”
For the first time, the legislation allows shippers facing rail service problems the right to apply for Canadian Transportation Agency arbitration to have a service agreement imposed as long as they have tried and failed to negotiate a commercial agreement.
If the railway fails to live up to the service level promised or imposed, fines of up to $100,000 for each infraction could be levied. The money would go to the government.
Any damage payments directly to the aggrieved shipper would have to come from a court judgment.
