For the first time in six years, there was no Christmas gift from the railways under the Western Grains Research Foundation’s tree this year.
And that’s just fine with the foundation, says spokesperson Mike Espeseth.
“We don’t expect to get that money every year,” he said.
The money he’s referring to is made up of penalties imposed on the railways if they exceed their revenue cap for hauling grain.
“Getting those payments is not something that we base our planning models on.”
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Espereth said the foundation focuses on good stewardship and sound financial management of its endowment fund.
For the previous six years, dating back to 2003-04, the foundation received payments from the two national rail companies totalling $73.5 million for an average annual payment of $12.3 million.
The numbers are distorted by figures for 2007-08, when the two railways combined to exceed the revenue cap by $65 million after a onetime change to the cap to reflect hopper car maintenance costs.
Taking that out of the equation, the average payment from the railways is $1.6 million.
A payment to the WGRF’s endowment fund is triggered when a railway’s revenue during the crop year exceeds its entitlement under the revenue cap.
In 2009-10, both railways took in less than their revenue entitlement, hence no payment to the WGRF.
Canadian National Railway took in $463.9 million in revenue, which was $3.73 million below its revenue cap limit.
Canadian Pacific Railway’s revenue totalled $454 million, which was $1.68 million below its cap.
———
2003-04 CN
2004-05
CN
2005-06 CN + CPR
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09 CN
2009-10
CPR
321,900
118,700
3,372,800
3,532,800
CN + CPR 65,474,500*
CN + CPR
717,400
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