In the complicated world of grain politics, this is the summer of The Promise. From all directions, there is one message: the snags and backlogs of last winter must not happen again.
There are promises all around.
Federal and provincial agriculture ministers agreed in July a solution must be found. Federal opposition critics cheer from the sidelines.
But on this issue, it is easier to say than to do. There are competing political and bureaucratic forces, competing ideologies and competing visions. The Canadian Wheat Board fights the railways. Deregulators fight regulators.
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Clearly, it will not be as simple as opening the Canada Transportation Act to insert a rewards and penalties clause – the policy preference of some.
Making progress would be a complicated exercise in the best of circumstances. Unfortunately, prime minister Jean ChrŽtien has ensured that these will not be the best of circumstances.
When he formed his new cabinet this summer, ChrŽtien made the job of finding a grain-hauling solution even more difficult and complicated.
The reason, simply, is divided jurisdiction.
Three federal ministers will have a say in what is to be done. Three visions will have to be reconciled, three egos satisfied, three bureaucracies brought along. And all that has to happen before proposed solutions ever make it out of Ottawa.
It even is difficult to figure out who will be the lead federal minister on this file.
Natural resources minister Ralph Goodale carries responsibility for the Canadian Wheat Board and grains issues from the last government.
Agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief is a new minister but a veteran of the political debates on the issue. This summer, he has been doing the most talking about the need to do something even though he concedes it is not primarily his file.
Then, lest we forget, there is transport minister David Collenette into whose lap this issue should logically fall.
Transportation legislation is Collenette’s to amend and it is doubtful the minister will quietly take a back seat to someone else in one of the few policy areas in which he and his department still can throw their weight around.
It creates an unpredictable stew of cabinet responsibilities which may not be conducive to decisive decision-making.
Recently, deputy agriculture minister Frank Claydon insisted he is enthusiastic about the arrangement. He will be support for Vanclief on all matters, and for Goodale on wheat board and grain issues.
Part of the job will be to make sure both ministers work from the same fact base and issue the same messages. Natural resources officials will have to be briefed on the issue.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Claydon. “It is an advantage to have two voices advocating to get things done and two minds working on solutions.”
True, as long as they are thinking and saying the same things, do not become embroiled in a power struggle and can convince the third minister to sing from the same song sheet as well.
Will Frank Claydon still be smiling in the autumn?
