The Canadian Wheat Board has asked the Federal Court of Canada for leave to appeal a recent Canadian Transportation Agency decision on rail service.
In a Sept. 25 ruling, the agency found that Canadian National Railway had failed to provide adequate service to four prairie grain shippers in 2007-08.
However, it rejected similar claims by another small shipper and the wheat board.
In its decision, the CTA said it didn’t have information to consider CN’s performance during a crucial eight-week period in February and March 2008.
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The wheat board said that coincided with the period when CN’s service was at its worst.
In its application for leave to appeal, the board said the CTA has a responsibility as a regulatory agency to ensure it gathers all the relevant information it needs to make a proper decision.
The board said the information, specifically involving rail shipments to Vancouver during that eight-week period, was available if the CTA had made the effort to seek it out.
“The agency’s investigation into the complaint was flawed and incomplete as a result,” the board said in its 30-page application to the court.
“The final decision makes it clear that the agency did not properly complete its investigation.”
CWB spokesperson Maureen Fitzhenry said the board feels it provided adequate information about movement to Vancouver during the period in question.
“Had all that data been considered and the investigation completed fully, we feel we would have clearly demonstrated CN was in breach of its service obligations,” Fitzhenry said.
“The burden is on the regulatory agency to do a complete job.”
In the decision, the agency ruled that CN failed to provide adequate service to North East Terminal, North West Terminal, Paterson Grain and Parrish and Heimbecker in 2007-08. It rejected complaints from the wheat board and Providence Grain Groups.
The CTA laid out three benchmarks to determine whether the railway is living up to its service obligations.
- CN must confirm a minimum of 80 percent of cars requested by shippers.
- The railway must deliver 90 percent of those cars no later than two weeks beyond the agreed delivery date.
- It must meet those standards on a 12-week rolling average and eventually deliver all confirmed cars not covered by the first two points.
The CTA said the data showed CN failed to meet the first benchmark in terms of service to Vancouver during the eight-week period, but it did not have enough information about the other two benchmarks.
