‘Grain gets left in the dust’

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 March 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 March 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 March 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.

“The entire CN team has a sense of urgency and is fully focused on getting it right for farmers and our grain customers, regaining the confidence of Canadian businesses and protecting Canada’s reputation as a stable trade partner in world markets,”