Rail legislation | Group lobbies for shipper-friendly arbitration amendments
Commodity shippers are urging Parliament to toughen rail service legislation and then get it into law quickly.
The Coalition of Rail Shippers, which includes prairie agricultural producers and shippers, proposed six amendments to Bill C-52 when they appeared before the House of Commons transport committee Feb. 26.
Key among them is a proposal that the arbitrator in an arbitrated service complaint settlement be allowed to impose damages to be paid to the aggrieved shipper.
In the proposed bill, any fine for failure to live up to a service agreement would go to government revenues.
Read Also
Moe’s outlook on Carney, trade challenges
SASKATOON — Scott Moe is in a conciliatory mood. Moe had plenty of kind things to say recently about Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, which wasn’t the case with Carney’s predecessor Justin Trudeau.
A shipper would have to launch a lawsuit to receive damage payments.
The shipper coalition also wants stronger language to spell out service obligations facing the railways, which would restrict railways’ ability to “impose an unspecified charge against a single shipper without recourse.”
As well, the proposed amendments would clearly indicate that the shipper will decide what issues go to arbitration.
Bob Ballantyne, chair of the shippers’ coalition, told MPs the bill is an important step but needs improving.
“The bill can be strengthened in a way that will minimize uncertainty, give more explicit guidance to arbitrators and limit the opportunity for railways to mount legal challenges designed to either frustrate the intent of Parliament, delay decisions and lead shippers both large and small into expensive legal battles,” he said.
The railways are before the transport committee this week to argue that rather than make the legislation tougher, MPs should recognize that carrier service to shippers has improved in recent years and commercially negotiated service agreements rather than legislated solutions are best for the industry.
Committee chair Larry Miller has indicated public hearings could end as early as this week, with MPs then considering testimony before deciding if the bill should be amended before sending it back to the House of Commons.
The government has made Bill C-52 a priority for spring approval.
The legislation follows years of lobbying by shippers over what they consider inadequate and unpredictable rail service because of an imbalance of power between the two dominant railways and the thousands of shippers spread across the country.
For the first time, the legislation would give shippers the right to demand an imposed arbitrated settlement if railway-shipper negotiations break down.
Transport minister Denis Lebel argues that the prospect of railways facing fines up to $100,000 for each service failure provides enough incentive for them to make the system work without invoking legal rules.
He told MPs earlier that the bill “puts shippers in the driver’s seat,” which may be enough to fix the system.
“The intent is to create the conditions that will allow for successful commercial negotiations that (would) normally be possible in a free market,” he said.
“Ideally, the legislation will never have to be used.”
Conservative MPs have been asking skeptical questions about the proposed amendments, sometimes arguing the legislation is already weighted to shippers and gives them much of what they have asked for over the years.
Western Canadian Shippers Coalition representative Ian May said MPs should support the bill even if the government will not accept the amendments because it is a start by recognizing in law that the shipper-carrier relationship is imbalanced.
“Having that on the table is worth a lot to shippers because it means we can come back at this again if we fail this time,” he said.
“We’ll come back next time. There’s 2015 ahead.”
His message to Conservatives was that they can get the legislation right the first time and put the issue behind them or expect to have the lobby continue.
