CTA transport review

[BreadWinner]

Captain Oblivious or should I say KYLE, I couldn't think of a better person to chair this committee. His business is what our whole industry should look like, value adding industries that help get rid of bulk rail freight. Those good old socialist days are gone so try some forward thinking for a change.

[westernvicki]

The problem is the gap between Canadian value and what the world pays is still too wide with the CWB and today.

Efficient logistics creating the environment for a competitive industry must be enabled if this gap is ever to be accommodated to decrease.

Reality is producers in Canada cannot pay highest input costs and lowest in the world real value for production.

[westernvicki]

Furthermore with regards to Murad, I see his strengths as such he has invested in industry on both sides of the border. He brings to this table the understanding of what we need to be a nation capable of attracting investment.
Undoubtedly like all Canadian shippers I expect his shareholders have paid do some degree for the failure of railway performance. Therefore if the national fundamental long run goal in to enable investment and attract value add food capital then indeed having a builder on the review board was not a bad choice.

As for growers we need to understand what we need to decrease the gap in prices for which we alone pay the difference. And we need to insist this gap is tracked and justified daily.

[Rareearth]

The railway .... Situation would have resulted with the the CWB or as we have seen with out the CWB, timing. To prove this point the USA has exactly the same lack of service interest on there side as we have on our Canadian side.

It might be interesting with the huge USA crops (northern states) if their freight starts to move across the boarder to Canada then to export position. It has happened before. And like last year it is very difficult to determine crop size until the combines roll, last year much better than expected and this year the opposite, much less than anticipated. Forecasting is like predicting the weather.

[farmaholic]

We swung for the fences pre and post CWB monopoly.... I hardly think the demise of the board had ANYTHING to do with last years bumper, you can thank Mother Nature for that just like you can curse her for the dismal yields and quality this year. WOW.....

[farmaholic]

We swung for the fences pre and post CWB monopoly.... I hardly think the demise of the board had ANYTHING to do with last years bumper, you can thank Mother Nature for that just like you can curse her for the dismal yields and quality this year. WOW.....

[rockpile]

Interesting to observe all of the interventionist proposals coming from so called open marketers. RR performance has been studied ad nauseam since 1972 when I started farming as a career and always the same result - not much changes except our costs go up and a bunch of people come away slapping each other on the back for a "job well done". I was involved in one of these studies in the late 80's and my take away was that CN and CP have a much more effective lobby than we do.
So call a spade a spade - one way or another you are asking for nationalization of the RR's as opposed to a market solution. BTW, nothing stopping joint running rights - it's up to the RR's to negotiate their own agreements. Case in point - Louis-Dreyfus at Lyalta. CN line, CP service. As far as twinning lines, there has been a lot of passing lanes built over the last twenty years. But at nearly a million bucks a mile, full scale double tracking could cost users a whole pile of money.
So what is it you are actually asking for? Go ahead - be brave - say it out loud.

[westernvicki]

The railway is an private oligopoly with a public responsibility.

Or

The railway is a private oligopoly with no public responsibility beyond shareholders.

Which way is it, or is there another?

[rockpile]

Vicki, I'll throw out an idea I suggested in 1988 to the Deputy Minister of Transportation for the Federal Govt. I suggested the two RR's amalgamate and then operate as a utility with a regulated rate of return (ROI) and a regulated service expectation. It's how our electricity markets worked at the time in Alberta. And we had the cheapest power prices in N.A. and outstanding service. Today, our electricity market is deregulated (read re-regulated) and it's an expensive shit show. As for my suggestion, well, I was laughed out of the room.

[parsley]

Isn't that odd CptnObvious, that I have been so out of the loop by thinking that the CWB is still in existence, is still picking up tax dollars, and is still enjoying lobbying to its' own private Minister, and Ministerial staff, and is still buying grain and is still selling grain. Bloody lying media.

My, thanks for telling me it was destroyed. I'll be sure to pass on your news. Pars.

[sumdumguy]

Bucket, I am with you on this one for sure and Vicki, that is the question isn't it? Is the railway responsible to the shipping public, primarily grains or has its responsibility shifted to shareholders alone ; and allowed to make this shift under the last few administrations?

[westernvicki]

We have a litany of ideas laughed out of the room in Canada, and a failure to deal with the plausible and the possible.

It is my opinion that the einter of 2013 was a crisis of private management of the railroad resource. I believe it was a turning point for government knowing that the majority of industry (VOTERS TAXPAYERS) will no longer accept a government that caters to lobbyists at the expense of the economy.

And yes it will all depend upon our ability to take the CRISIS of 2013 and demand process which insures that opportunity for the future is based upon the recognition of the relationship of a client (importer/exporter) and service provider(S) created: the railroads, ports and logistics network.