AGRIWEEK
CANADA’S AGRIBUSINESS AUTHORITY SINCE 1967
APRIL 14 2014
'A surprise addition creates a penalty-box for the railways'
"Bill C-30, the Fair Rail for Farmers Act, returned from the agriculture committee with an unexpected and arresting addition:
the Canadian Transportation Agency will be empowered to order railways to compensate shippers who have been
harmed by inadequate rail service. In the original version the CTA was to be given authority to arbitrate disputes between rail companies and shippers, but only if a service agreement or contract existed between the parties and the arbitration request was agreed to by both sides. Damages could have been assessed against either the railway or the shipper under that
provision. No service level agreement is believed to currently exist between any railway and grain shipper.
Like the rest of C-30, the new provision applies only to grain. The amendment before the agriculture committee was proposed by parliamentary secretary for agriculture and eastern Ontario MP Pierre Lemieux, so was a government initiative.
It was passed by unanimous vote, the only one of half a dozen proposed by opposition members. Others that would
have given the government power to require up to 13,000 cars of grain to be hauled weekly and to assess penalties of up to $250,000 a day were defeated.
In all the committee held three meetings on C-30 in less than a week, hearing 24 witnesses, mostly representing farm and grain trade groups and the railways. The bill was incredibly fast-tracked, with other Commons business moved out of the way so it could get through. It now goes for rubber-stamp third reading on the Commons floor, then to the Senate and
proclamation. The government wants the bill passed by the Commons before the two-week Easter break which begins today
(April 14). This will be necessary to avoid a gap between the expiry of the 90-day March 7 order in council on or
about June 7 and the coming into force of C-30. ...."
Thanks Morris... well written.
Would anyone on Agriville want Minister Ritz... or any politician for that matter... telling the railway or Grainco's where to ship our grain?
I think not.
This is the best compromise for the time being... not an easy move for PM Harper and our MP's in Ottawa.
CANADA’S AGRIBUSINESS AUTHORITY SINCE 1967
APRIL 14 2014
'A surprise addition creates a penalty-box for the railways'
"Bill C-30, the Fair Rail for Farmers Act, returned from the agriculture committee with an unexpected and arresting addition:
the Canadian Transportation Agency will be empowered to order railways to compensate shippers who have been
harmed by inadequate rail service. In the original version the CTA was to be given authority to arbitrate disputes between rail companies and shippers, but only if a service agreement or contract existed between the parties and the arbitration request was agreed to by both sides. Damages could have been assessed against either the railway or the shipper under that
provision. No service level agreement is believed to currently exist between any railway and grain shipper.
Like the rest of C-30, the new provision applies only to grain. The amendment before the agriculture committee was proposed by parliamentary secretary for agriculture and eastern Ontario MP Pierre Lemieux, so was a government initiative.
It was passed by unanimous vote, the only one of half a dozen proposed by opposition members. Others that would
have given the government power to require up to 13,000 cars of grain to be hauled weekly and to assess penalties of up to $250,000 a day were defeated.
In all the committee held three meetings on C-30 in less than a week, hearing 24 witnesses, mostly representing farm and grain trade groups and the railways. The bill was incredibly fast-tracked, with other Commons business moved out of the way so it could get through. It now goes for rubber-stamp third reading on the Commons floor, then to the Senate and
proclamation. The government wants the bill passed by the Commons before the two-week Easter break which begins today
(April 14). This will be necessary to avoid a gap between the expiry of the 90-day March 7 order in council on or
about June 7 and the coming into force of C-30. ...."
Thanks Morris... well written.
Would anyone on Agriville want Minister Ritz... or any politician for that matter... telling the railway or Grainco's where to ship our grain?
I think not.
This is the best compromise for the time being... not an easy move for PM Harper and our MP's in Ottawa.