Proudly Canadian
Proudly Canadian
Gerry Ritz says rail performance, which is being monitored, is adequate given the big crop to move
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says he has yet to see conclusive proof that the railways aren’t doing an adequate job moving this year’s bumper crop to market. “I hear a lot of anecdotal evidence and I follow it up and say, ‘give me the car numbers… give me the dates,’ and nobody can, nobody has,”
Shippers say it’s no coincidence that service has deteriorated since introduction of legislation giving them more leverage
Freight service improved when Ottawa was preparing legislation last year to balance the market power of shippers and the railways, but has since slipped back to unsatisfactory levels, shipper representatives say. As “recently as two weeks ago we had mills just about shut down because they couldn’t get boxcars in Western Canada, and not justDespite shaving $20 million in costs the CGC proposes a big increase in user fees so Ottawa no longer has to pay the bill
In its government-ordered drive to cost recovery, the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) wants the grain industry to pay an extra $16.7 million a year in user fees effective Aug. 2013. That’s a 44 per cent increase amounting to an extra $1.38 a tonne on total CGC-inspected Canadian grain exports. The figures are contained in theThe money, similar to what the former directors estimated, will cover open-market transition costs
The federal government will spend up to $349 million to cover the Canadian Wheat Board’s (CWB) extraordinary costs as it moves to an open market Aug. 1. “The CWB must be as nimble, flexible and efficient as possible without being encumbered with costs related to the past,” Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said at a news
