The federal government has moved ahead with action to address the grain transport backlog.
At a televised news conference in Winnipeg, Man. Friday, federal ministers Gerry Ritz (agriculture) and Lisa Raitt (transport) announced the federal cabinet would introduce an order-in-council that will require Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railways to move a minimum quantity of regulated grain each week.
The order, made under section 47(1) of theCanada Transportation Act, will also require the railways to report to the minister of transport on weekly shipments.
The railways will be required to increase the volumes carried each week to a combined target of 1,000,000metric tonnes per week, which will more than double the volume currently being moved, according to the government.
Rail companies will be required to submit supporting data each week outlining the amount grain shippers have asked them to deliver, and the grain tonnage delivered. As well, the government pledges to enhance grain monitoring programs to improve the frequency of reporting and expand the data collected.
If specified levels of shipping are not met, Raitt said the government will prosecute violations and impose severe fines.
"Penalties can and will be as high as $100,000 per day," said Raitt.
The order in council takes effect immediately. However, Raitt said it does allow four weeks for the railways to ramp up to the required level of grain movement.
The backlog in transporting grain has been an emerging issue for some time, with farmers venting frustration over seeing their crop from last year sitting in bins waiting to be moved.
Raitt acknowledged the bumper crop and also the cold weather have put a strain on the movement of grain. But in his remarks at the news conference, Ritz, the MP for Battlefords-Lloydminster, made clear blame for the backlog situation was with the railways.
"Farmers are becoming increasingly frustrated by the continued poor performance of the railways. The railways have dropped the ball," said Ritz.
"This situation is not acceptable. It's not acceptable to our farmers, our elevators, our domestic millers, our global customers, and of course not acceptable to our economy."
Ritz told the Winnipeg news conference the railways had previously committed to boost capacity and add more cars. He said this announcement holds them to that promise.
As well, Ritz pledged legislation upon the resumption of the House that he said would establish measures to ensure Canadian shippers have access to a world-class logistics system that gets agricultural products to market in a timely manner.
"You've heard of back to work legislation; this will be get-to-work legislation," said Ritz.
The grain backlog issue had come to a boil in the past few weeks. Most recently premier Brad Wall called for action on the issue as has provincial NDP leader Cam Broten. Last week a motion by the premier calling for emergency legislation from the federal government on the issue passed the legislature with the support of both parties.
Also last week, provincial agriculture minister Lyle Stewart wrote a letter to financial institutions urging flexibility with agriculture clients facing cash flow issues due to the grain movement situation.
In a statement Friday, premier Wall and minister Stewart welcomed the federal government's actions.
"We had asked for immediate action including emergency legislation to be introduced and we are pleased the federal government has made this commitment," Wall said. "Clearing this grain transportation backlog has been the number one priority for our government and these federal measures will help our producers to finally get their product to ports."
The province has also pledged to monitor producer deliveries to grain shippers and basis levels, and made clear their expectation that grain companies will have staff on hand 24 hours per day to deal with the shipments.
"Producers have ultimately been left bearing the cost for this crisis and we fully expect every player in the supply chain to do their part to get this grain moved," said Stewart.
