CTA transport review

[westernvicki]

Add to the list,
The will of a nation that puts the timely export as a national priority, and build and a strategic plan and a process which targets performance is essential.

If the above is a goal of the country, the review may have value.

A timely monitor and report car on performance is essential.

An office in the WEST capable of solution building in event of service issues.

TARRIFFs implemented by rail need to be negotiated as a two way street.

Service Level Agreements need to reflect the demand of the business and not the agenda of the railway.

Industry needs to coordinate, provide data documenting what is necessary on a day to day basis for performance to enable operations, & investment.

New business needs to be accommodated.

Simply put Canada needs to decide what type of export nation they wish to be in the future is the major ingredient. Once that goal is set the plan can develop.

[gustgd]

Obviously The Captain wants to rewrite history. I and most among the Wheat Growers didn't want to demolish the whole CWB system. That was the decision of the group of 8 Monopoly supporters on the BOD. They felt that without the Monopoly the whole thing was destined for the trash bin. Do they intentionally got adversarial with the Federal govt. Thumbed their noses at the Prime Minister and Cabinet and set up for a fight. Which in the end they lost and took a lot of people down with them and set up Western Canadian farmers for another generation of fights.

The WG position was and still is that the Monopoly was the problem. If no cost buy backs would have been offered on the same terms as exports from the East, I would have been satisfied. Most realized that their would be a small checkoff for research an Market development and would have paid. That's a communication problem. Something easily overcome with time

I also see much of the "problem" of last years record crop was because most commercial farmers poured the groceries to the crop hitting for the fences, now that they had an opportunity to capitalize on success.

[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?