Another farm organization wants to get involved in the fight between the Canadian Wheat Board and the railways.
But this group of farmers isn’t siding with the wheat board.
The Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association is seeking permission from the Canadian Transportation Agency to intervene as a neutral party in the service complaint laid by the board against the two national railways.
“We are seeking to intervene on behalf of farmers,” said association vice-president Kevin Archibald. ” We’re not intervening on the railways’ side or the wheat board’s side.”
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The board has asked the CTA to find that CP Rail and CN Rail have failed to provide adequate service hauling grain over the last few months and order them to improve their performance.
A number of groups have intervened in support of the board, including the National Farmers Union, Wild Rose Agricultural Producers, the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities and the Saskatchewan government.
But Archibald said the wheat board’s action won’t move more grain and may even prevent steps being taken to improve the situation.
“This definitely has poisoned the air between different players in the grain trade,” he said. “People are reluctant to talk until this is out of the way.”
While saying it isn’t taking sides, the wheat growers association also says it wants the agency to dismiss the board’s application, or failing that, to modify it so it becomes more of a review of the entire transportation system.
Archibald said the board’s complaint asks the wrong questions and distracts attention from the real issue, which is the need for more accountability from all participants in the system.
“There are a lot of parties that could be culpable and it’s time to get past the finger pointing and get a solution,” he said.
A wheat board official expressed puzzlement at the association’s claim that it is acting on behalf of farmers in asking that the board’s application be dismissed.
“I don’t believe you can question that the wheat board is acting on behalf of farmers,” said CWB information officer Rhea Yates. “The purpose behind this whole complaint is to get some recognition on behalf of farmers to stop this kind of thing from happening again and ultimately to get compensation for farmers.”
It was also unclear last week whether the wheat growers would be granted status as a neutral intervenor by the agency.
Archibald said the association believes the Canada Transportation Act allows for such status, but the agency has already rejected a request by the Western Grain Elevator Association on the grounds that it did not say which side it was supporting.
WGEA executive director Ed Guest said his members felt they couldn’t take sides because they had not yet seen the railways’ reply to the wheat board’s complaint.
He said once they have had a chance to analyze the railways’ arguments the nine grain handling companies that make up the association will decide whether to intervene on one side or the other.
