12 March 2010

Let's Get On the Right Track

A Canadian Pacific train in the Rockies - Date unknown Canadian Pacific.

Western Canadian farmers are linked to our two national railways, Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. We depend on those slender ribbons of steel to get much of our product to market, and even if we do not, the price of other products is often influenced by the cost of bringing them in on those same railways.
 
That is why the performance and cost of these companies is so essential to us. A level of service review is slowly working its way toward completion over the coming summer, and we will be participating along with others to make sure that farmers' interests are well represented. This includes ensuring that the tribunal hears about of the problems poor service can cost both companies and individuals.
 
Beyond this, there is rising concern over railway costing. Both railways have been on a cost-plus formula that was originally developed in 1992. Every farmer knows that rail infrastructure has changed dramatically since that time, and technology has also changed railway efficiency in major ways. This has led to savings on the part of the railways. These savings were supposed to be shared with the grain shipper customers, which would eventually flow to those of us who really pay those costs. I am still waiting!
 
Railways have become very profitable businesses with virtual monopoly control over their relatively powerless customers. Government has an obligation to make sure that the fees railways charge are realistic and competitive. It is time to give these formulas and charges a long hard public examination, and make the necessary changes, no matter how powerful the railways are.
 
Ian Wishart.
 
Ian Wishart is president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, which describes itself as Manitoba's largest general farm policy organization, representing more than 7,000 farm families and 22 commodity groups throughout the province.