Grain transportation on agenda

OFFICIALS DISCUSS WAYS TO PUT AND KEEP GRAIN IN HIGH GEAR TO PORT

Getting grain to port at a faster and more efficient clip was to be the focus of a meeting in Saskatoon involving the federal government, farm leaders and executives from Canada’s two biggest railways.

Officials from the grain and rail transportation sectors were at Wednesday’s roundtable discussion, hosted by federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau and Lawrence MacAulay, federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Grain transportation was a critical issue for farmers last winter when producers said shipping delays and backlogs following what had been in many cases an excellent harvest were resulting in huge financial losses for them.

Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railways have previously announced plans for improved grain movement, but Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association director Daryl Fransoo says the time for talk is over and it’s results that now count.

Todd Lewis, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, says the railways have calculated that 4,000 grain cars a week will be enough to handle the demand, although he notes that farmers hope to see even bigger numbers.

The roundtable meeting coincided with this week’s federal Liberal caucus meeting in Saskatoon.

“It’s to the point where we’ve heard enough,” said Fransoo, who farms in the Glaslyn area, about 200 km northwest of Saskatoon.

“They (the railways) just have to move our grain in a timely fashion ... They can talk about their cars, their locomotives and the people they’ve hired but the proof is in the pudding.”

The federal government passed the Transportation Modernization Act in May to make railways accountable for poor service. It includes financial penalties for failure to deliver promised rail cars for grain shipments on time.