Pressure mounting on Federal government to pass transportation bill
The recently-amended Bill C-49 has been referred back to the House of Commons from the Senate, and both the Member of Parliament for Prince Albert and a national group representing producers said they want no more delays.
“The question now is whether the Liberals in the house will accept those amendments and allow it to go through,” MP Randy Hoback said.
The amendments give the Canadian Transportation Agency more authority to investigate and proactively seek solutions that can prevent bottlenecks. They also allow access to “interswitching,” which provides grain companies with more competitive shipping options, leading to efficiencies intended to benefit the entire supply chain. While Hoback said he is hopeful for a quick passing of the amended bill, he worries it’s already too late.
“We’ve got a situation now where farmers can only haul reduced loads or no loads off the farm to fill the elevators, to fill the grain cars,” Hoback said. “The Liberals waited too long and we have a situation where guys are going to be seeding and spraying and hauling grain and doing everything at the same time.”