Dear Editor:
Politicians, some producers and farm leaders have very short memories. The last time railway workers went on strike was 2002. However the railways' owners have almost continually threatened to work to rule if they did not get more money. Their recent threat that grain would never move efficiently if they did not get more money is not the first time has happened. In the 1980's the railways shifted to bull-low for a myriad of reasons but mostly because they did not want to upgrade their railcar fleet or serve branch line elevators owned by farmers. So in order to speed up the transportation of grain the Federal Government and Provincial governments gave in to the bully tactics of the railways and purchased grain hopper cars to improve the capacity of the grain transportation system.
In the 1990's the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association (WCWGA) under the banner "Partners in Innovation" lobbied the federal Government to help get rid of the Crow Rate. Their rationale was that the system could become more efficient if the railways could charge more! It sure sounds like that mantra is back again coming out of the same group. The questions is more efficient for who? To this date the railways have not invested in hopper cars and locomotives as the Western Canadian Wheat Growers were suggesting they would back when they wanted to Crow gone. But the freight rates farmers pay have certainly gone up along with railway profits!!
In the 2000's the railways dropped over 4000 workers and many locomotives were sitting idle on the tracks. This year the Railroads are on slow down for the movement of grain in the west. Once again they are crying their business needs more money for grain movement as oil and potash shipments provide more income.
Again the WCWGA in their "wisdom" are advocating that producers need to pay more to ship grain and this would solve the problem. The last time freight rates did go up, but service certainly did not, although the profits for railway shareholders did!
In the past the WCWGA were ready to put on their work boots and hard hats to go to the ports to load grain anytime the union workers went on strike. The WCWGA should stop working for the railways and give up on their antiquated theme that the solution to the grain transportation problem is to pay the railways more. They have been proven wrong by history several times already!
Eric Sagan,
Melville, SK.
