The House of Commons transport committee won’t be travelling west this fall to hear from farmers and grain industry officials about the government’s transportation reform legislation.
In fact, there’s a good chance the bill won’t get out of committee before Parliament shuts down for Christmas, something that could jeopardize the future of Bill C-26.
“That may very well happen,” said committee chair Joe Comuzzi, a Liberal MP from Thunder Bay.
The committee has a lengthy list of witnesses who want to appear to talk about the contentious legislation, including more than 200 from Western Canada.
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Earlier this year, the committee had talked about travelling west for two weeks of public hearings.
But Comuzzi said it doesn’t have any money, and given the upcoming parliamentary breaks for Thanksgiving and the Liberal leadership convention, there probably won’t be enough time to deal with the bill.
“We’ll have eight to 10 meetings at most, and you can’t get through that bill in 10 meetings,” said Comuzzi, adding western groups will be invited to Ottawa to give evidence.
If Bill C-26 dies in committee, that wouldn’t be a great disappointment to many western grain industry stakeholders, who say the bill doesn’t do enough to promote competition between the railways.
They have criticized the bill for failing to provide for joint running rights, for failing to force a host railway to prove that a running rights application from a competitor would not be in the public interest, and for failing to provide protection for sidings and spurs in rural areas.
There were also concerns about such things as final-offer arbitration rules, the future of the federal grain monitor system and funding for rural roads.
