CLEAR EVIDENCE OF FREIGHT RATE GOUGING
The Canadian Wheat Board has partnered with five major farm organizations (including APAS in Saskatchewan) on an independent examination of what it costs to move prairie grain to market, and the service farmers get in return.
It shows the railways are raking in $175 million more every year than they can justify, and service is generally poor.
Over the past 10 – 15 years, railway operating costs have been curtailed because of a big drop in the number of delivery points handling grain, and such innovations as multi-car block shipping arrangements.
But few of these efficiency gains have been shared with producers. In fact, some farmers have seen their freight costs go up by 40 percent.
These circumstances are a consequence of no real competition existing between Canada’s two major railways. In such a situation, the Government of Canada has a special obligation to be pro-active in safeguarding the public interest.
The Liberal Official Opposition worked constructively with all parties and farm organizations through this past winter to get Bill C-8 enacted into law.
This measure introduces new ways for aggrieved shippers to band together to get better freight service, and improves the access shippers have to regulatory remedies from the Canadian Transportation Agency.
Bill C-8 also provides for a general railway “service review”. The federal government needs to get that underway forthwith, but it also needs to go further.
The Harper government should immediately launch a complete “costing review” -- specifically for grain!
The last full examination of these costs was in 1992. The recent work by the CWB suggests a lot has changed. As much as $175 million in excess charges are being levied by the railways and wrongly drained away from farmers.
The Conservatives must deal with this, PDQ!
-30-
|
