Pressure to fix rail grain backlog mounts
OTTAWA Liberal members of Parliament on Wednesday rejected an Opposition motion aimed at easing a months-long backlog in grain shipments, saying it is too soon for Ottawa to impose stiff quotas on rail companies.
The Opposition motion came during an emergency meeting of the House agriculture and agrifood committee on Wednesday, called in response to persistent shipping delays.
Canadian grain farmers are in some cases months behind on deliveries for wheat, oats, barley and other contracts, and have been calling on Ottawa to intervene as stockpiles swell.
Opposition members asked to send a letter to the transport and agriculture ministers urging them to issue an order in council, likely aimed at forcing Canadian rail companies to directly address the backlog. Liberal members rejected the motion.
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., and in particular Canadian National Railway Co., have fallen behind on deliveries this year following an uncommonly cold winter and higher-than expected grain production.
The emergency meeting comes as farmers face a shortage of cash flow just weeks ahead of the spring seeding season. Opposition members also warned that municipalities are preparing to impose weight limits on roads in coming weeks that could hamper farmers’ ability to transport grain to nearby silos.
“Farmers will not be able to haul their grain in the next couple weeks — it is that critical,” said John Barlow, a Conservative committee member who called for the emergency meeting.
Separately, however, the committee voted in favour of holding emergency hearings on Mar. 19 aimed at discussing the causes of shipping bottlenecks, which have lingered for months. Representatives with the rail companies and suppliers are expected to attend the hearings.
Farmers and business associations have said the bottlenecks are approaching the levels of 2013-14, when the Harper government issued an order in council to force railways to move minimum volumes of grain.
Liberal committee members on Wednesday argued that an order in council should wait until after CN and CP put forward their plans to address the backlogs.
Transport Minister Marc Garneau and Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay wrote a joint letter to the railway companies Tuesday, saying they were “disappointed” by the performance of the firms, asking them to publish plans before Mar. 15 detailing how the companies seek to ease the bottleneck.
Liberal members said an order in council should not be issued before rail companies are given time to lay out their response plans. They also argued the order would take weeks to get cabinet approval.
“An order in council is not going to get passed by Mar. 19 — I can guarantee you that,” said Francis Drouin, a Liberal committee member.
He instead called on the Senate to expedite the passage of Bill C-49, the Transport Modernization Act, which supporters say addresses some of the problems faced by grain farmers and other suppliers.
“The House has done their job, now it’s up to the Senate to do their job,” Drouin said.
CN issued an apology for the delays on Tuesday, saying it has leased 130 locomotives to increase capacity and plans to invest more than $250 million this year to build new track and yard capacity in Western Canada.