Western farmers hit by grain backlog blame Raitt at Ottawa meeting
By Kelsey Johnson | Feb 27, 2014 6:53 pm | | 0 Comments
Federal Transport Minister Lisa Raitt is facing heightened criticism over her public silence on a grain crisis that has left millions of tonnes of grain stranded across the Prairies for nearly five months.
Farm groups and both opposition parties laid into the minister during the annual Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) meeting, which wrapped up in Ottawa Thursday.
The minister’s non-involvement is of utmost concern, Lynn Jacobsen, president of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture, said in introducing a question for NDP agriculture critic Malcolm Allen Wednesday.
“She’s fairly silent on a lot of this stuff and we need to have some assurance out of the transport department because my experience has always been that Transport has always been very railroad-friendly,” Jacobsen explained.
Allen noted that other potential economic crises have elicited a stronger response from Raitt.
“If the minister of labour, who is now the minister of transport, basically told Air Canada workers you can’t go on strike because it will threaten the Canadian economy… the bottom line is that we are now talking about the real economy that is stagnating,” Allen said.
“When you have a crisis, you deal with it immediately and you act,” he added.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau joined in the chorus demanding the transport minister step up her game.
“We need a transport minister who’s going to stand up and tell the railways to get this done,” he told attendees.
“The fact that we’re not shipping things means that we’re idling our locomotives and leasing them to the United States to get [grain] to the American ports is an absurdity of ridiculous proportions,” he added.
“For me, it’s something that should be dealt with fairly straight forwardly with a transport minister who’s to actually step up and say ‘get your act together railroads and let’s start shipping our grain.’”
Raitt was expected to attend the CFA’s reception Tuesday evening but never showed.
However, the minister has held several meetings behind the scenes on the issue, iPolitics has learned. On Tuesday, the minister met with Canada Grains Council President Richard Philipps and other stakeholders.
Two more meetings – including one with Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, who’s in town for the annual Manning Networking Conference – were set for Thursday.
Wall has been very vocal about the crisis unfolding in Western Canada, referring to it on Twitter as a “serious situation and a high priority.”
He’s appointed a special cabinet committee to monitor the situation. The committee recently met with Canada’s two national railways – Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific (CP Rail) – in Montreal to discuss the crisis.
The Saskatchewan government has also asked the federal government to immediate oversee negotiations on performance agreements between grain and rail companies.
Paralyzed grain across the prairies is dealing a devastating blow to the Western Canadian economy. Recent estimates from economists at the University of Saskatchewan estimate the delays could cost the agricultural industry between $2 billion and $4 billion.
Last fall’s massive crop combined with frigid temperatures and a shortage of rail capacity has caused a logistical nightmare. The number of outstanding orders for grain cars now tops an unprecedented 55,000 cars. More than fifty ships are docked in West Coast ports waiting for grain, while a handful of feed and processing mills have run short.
The backlog has also dealt a severe hit to farmer’s cash flow. Farmers aren’t paid until their grain is delivered to market, generally the local elevator. Plugged elevators, though, have forced farmers to store last harvest’s 95 million tonne crop on the farm, making it next to impossible to convert into cash.
Multiple CFA meeting attendees told iPolitics farmers financial situations are getting more and more “critical” by the day, with many producers falling behind on bill, mortgage and loan payments.
Farmers can apply for federal assistance of up to $400,000 (of which $100,000 is interest free) via the Advance Payment Program (APP). Producers are also being asked to use any and all funds tucked away in individual Agri-Invest accounts.
Industry lenders, along with Alberta Agriculture Minister Verlyn Olson, however, have asked Ottawa to boost APP funding in light of the backlog.
On Tuesday, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said the federal government was considering all options, including new regulations that would see the railways fined daily for poor service.
All new rail regulations require the minister of transport’s approval.
Both CN and CP have promised to supply 13,000 grain cars per week until December 2014 to ease the backlog once the cold weather breaks.
Meanwhile, Ritz has ordered grain companies and railways to clear up any outstanding grain contracts by the end of March. Otherwise, the minister said Tuesday, producers will be able to start collecting interest.
© 2014 iPolitics Inc.
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By Kelsey Johnson | Feb 27, 2014 6:53 pm | | 0 Comments
Federal Transport Minister Lisa Raitt is facing heightened criticism over her public silence on a grain crisis that has left millions of tonnes of grain stranded across the Prairies for nearly five months.
Farm groups and both opposition parties laid into the minister during the annual Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) meeting, which wrapped up in Ottawa Thursday.
The minister’s non-involvement is of utmost concern, Lynn Jacobsen, president of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture, said in introducing a question for NDP agriculture critic Malcolm Allen Wednesday.
“She’s fairly silent on a lot of this stuff and we need to have some assurance out of the transport department because my experience has always been that Transport has always been very railroad-friendly,” Jacobsen explained.
Allen noted that other potential economic crises have elicited a stronger response from Raitt.
“If the minister of labour, who is now the minister of transport, basically told Air Canada workers you can’t go on strike because it will threaten the Canadian economy… the bottom line is that we are now talking about the real economy that is stagnating,” Allen said.
“When you have a crisis, you deal with it immediately and you act,” he added.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau joined in the chorus demanding the transport minister step up her game.
“We need a transport minister who’s going to stand up and tell the railways to get this done,” he told attendees.
“The fact that we’re not shipping things means that we’re idling our locomotives and leasing them to the United States to get [grain] to the American ports is an absurdity of ridiculous proportions,” he added.
“For me, it’s something that should be dealt with fairly straight forwardly with a transport minister who’s to actually step up and say ‘get your act together railroads and let’s start shipping our grain.’”
Raitt was expected to attend the CFA’s reception Tuesday evening but never showed.
However, the minister has held several meetings behind the scenes on the issue, iPolitics has learned. On Tuesday, the minister met with Canada Grains Council President Richard Philipps and other stakeholders.
Two more meetings – including one with Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, who’s in town for the annual Manning Networking Conference – were set for Thursday.
Wall has been very vocal about the crisis unfolding in Western Canada, referring to it on Twitter as a “serious situation and a high priority.”
He’s appointed a special cabinet committee to monitor the situation. The committee recently met with Canada’s two national railways – Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific (CP Rail) – in Montreal to discuss the crisis.
The Saskatchewan government has also asked the federal government to immediate oversee negotiations on performance agreements between grain and rail companies.
Paralyzed grain across the prairies is dealing a devastating blow to the Western Canadian economy. Recent estimates from economists at the University of Saskatchewan estimate the delays could cost the agricultural industry between $2 billion and $4 billion.
Last fall’s massive crop combined with frigid temperatures and a shortage of rail capacity has caused a logistical nightmare. The number of outstanding orders for grain cars now tops an unprecedented 55,000 cars. More than fifty ships are docked in West Coast ports waiting for grain, while a handful of feed and processing mills have run short.
The backlog has also dealt a severe hit to farmer’s cash flow. Farmers aren’t paid until their grain is delivered to market, generally the local elevator. Plugged elevators, though, have forced farmers to store last harvest’s 95 million tonne crop on the farm, making it next to impossible to convert into cash.
Multiple CFA meeting attendees told iPolitics farmers financial situations are getting more and more “critical” by the day, with many producers falling behind on bill, mortgage and loan payments.
Farmers can apply for federal assistance of up to $400,000 (of which $100,000 is interest free) via the Advance Payment Program (APP). Producers are also being asked to use any and all funds tucked away in individual Agri-Invest accounts.
Industry lenders, along with Alberta Agriculture Minister Verlyn Olson, however, have asked Ottawa to boost APP funding in light of the backlog.
On Tuesday, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said the federal government was considering all options, including new regulations that would see the railways fined daily for poor service.
All new rail regulations require the minister of transport’s approval.
Both CN and CP have promised to supply 13,000 grain cars per week until December 2014 to ease the backlog once the cold weather breaks.
Meanwhile, Ritz has ordered grain companies and railways to clear up any outstanding grain contracts by the end of March. Otherwise, the minister said Tuesday, producers will be able to start collecting interest.
© 2014 iPolitics Inc.
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