Transport bureaucrats not keen about farmer cars

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Published: June 13, 1996

Is the fix in as the federal government prepares to sell its grain hopper cars? Has the government already decided the railways will get the cars but for appearance’s sake, is humoring farmers as they scramble to put together a bid?

It is a question that troubles members of the farmer grain-car coalition as they try to decide if Ottawa is merely leading them along. “Why waste our time if the decision already is made?” asked a coalition supporter as he called from his prairie farm to enquire about the latest rumor of a Transport Canada-railway deal on the cars. The simple answer is: officially, the fix is not in. The call for bids in late June or July is for real. The government will consider all bids.

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Unofficially, the evidence suggests Transport Canada wants the railways to get the cars. There is a form of reverse onus for the farmer coalition.

To win the right to buy the cars, it must not only make its own case but as important, convince the department that the railways should not win.

Inside government, agriculture minister Ralph Goodale and Transport Canada have been battling on the issue. While encouraging a farmer bid, Goodale has insisted Ottawa keep an open mind.

In the background, there are sporadic (and unlikely) efforts to forge a compromise involving some form of joint railway-farmer ownership.

For Goodale, credibility rides on the result. How the farmer coalition is treated, and whether it feels it had a fair hearing, will be a measure of Goodale’s clout in government.

The origins of the apparent Transport Canada bias toward railway ownership may be no more complex than that departmental bureaucrats and affiliated politicians believe the railways need more power, flexibility and tools to survive.

Most Liberal members of the Commons transport committee appear to agree. A visit by railway lobbyists to the committee has the air of a reunion between old friends. In early May when representatives of CP Rail were before a joint meeting of transport and agriculture committees, transport members took turns tossing soft questions.

Stan Keyes, Hamilton Liberal and parliamentary secretary to the transport minister, seemed unable to imagine the co-ordinating chaos that would be created if farmers owned the cars.

“Is there a demonstrated ability by anyone other than the railways, which I would imagine have spent decades trying to make this thing work ….”

He did not finish the question about car allocation but his point was made.

Then, having heard from the railways, the transport committee appeared to lose interest in the issue.

At the end of May, farmers and the Canadian Wheat Board were back on Parliament Hill to plead their case before the joint committee.

The transportation committee did not bother to send MPs to hear the witnesses. Deputy transport minister Nick Mulder declined an invitation to attend and did not send a substitute.

Apparently, Transport Canada knows all it needs to know about the issue. The railways told it.

About the author

Barry Wilson

Barry Wilson is a former Ottawa correspondent for The Western Producer.

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