We find a troubling comparison in today's new situation with an old Mark Twain observation about weather, wherein everybody complains, but nobody does anything about it.
When it comes to the current grain transportation and handling system in Canada, the Mark Twain observation kicks in. Everybody on the production side is complaining and nobody is doing anything about it.
We've seen a provincial political team broach the problem with the grain and rail companies, but they got kicked to the sidelines rather decidedly. The federal political team might give it a shot someday. But we fear both the will and the flesh are weak.
The disgruntled Prairie producers now resort to 1930s style grumbling about their profession falling into the hands of big time businesses that just don't care about the little guy.
You can hardly call today's grain producers small time. In fact, many of them are corporate entities, but in Canada's grain trade world, they aren't big enough to call the shots when it comes to commodity handling and shipping.
They can gripe all they want about oil tankers taking precedent over grain cars and they will be right. The rail companies adhere to the shareholders' needs and those needs focus on profits and dividends. If the farmers don't like the way the railroads are handling the grain, then the tired old refrain from the corporate community is "buy some shares and go to the shareholders' meeting." It makes a good sound bite, but it's not a solution, unless producers can buy 10 per cent of CP or CN.
Grain handling companies same story.
Farmers pay the demurrage fees for the ships waiting in harbour, so no need for them to fret about timely deliveries.
But eventually, this clumsy reaction to Prairie farmers' inability to get the product into the hands of the customers and consumers, will come back to haunt them all.
When Canada loses its international reputation as a reliable and efficient provider, then all players lose. The farmer goes first, but eventually the railways, grain handlers and brokers lose, too. The customer will go elsewhere to fill their needs, and Canada will not only suffer the humility of being unable to perform a simple task, even as a second-tier grain dealer, but will also bear the problem of facing a long road back to being a respected player in the food commodities world, which is big and powerful with a long memory when slighted.
That's why we find it incomprehensible that rail lines have resorted to making up cute excuses, giving producers the back of their hand while being in cahoots with their friends on the marketing side of the equation. They know how to get their money, and they know how to share it between them and they're not about to let any political or producer interlopers in on their action. They've been playing the game a long time and with the only thorn in their side, the CWB, out of the equation, they get to play even rougher.
We'd like to think our senior governments might have an ace in the hole they could play, but we don't believe they do, other than suddenly making up new rules and we don't see where they have the muscle or the moxie to do that.
