Thank you, Chair.
This amendment is very similar to the one we had before from the testimonies that we had. It's in the part there that states, “the Agency must provide the Minister with advice on the minimum amount of grain that each company”, etc.
This amendments states:
“year, and on the provisions that need to be made to provide a reasonable and consistent supply of grain cars to short-line rail operators, producer car shippers and domestic grain users. The Agency may also consult with any”
I can repeat the ones that came forward with this before. The federation put on a strong case when they stated:
...the bill should be amended to ensure that producer car users are also consulted by the CTA before it makes its recommendations to the minister.
It was also stated that the government must ensure that all shipping corridors, with priority given to Canadian mills and livestock industries, are adequately serviced.
I've got to stress, Mr. Chair, that when the farmers from British Columbia were pleading for us to do something to make sure that they had the grain in the billion-dollar industry that they had there, and that they only had days of having grain for their livestock, it was also stated, and I heard, that they could always ship it in by truck.
I know the honourable member here is from Peace River and what it would cost to ship a tonne of grain by truck down to the Fraser Valley would be in the hundreds of dollars. That's not feasible and you cannot stay in business very long with that.
I think this fits well here. It's making sure that the agency keeps an eye on those corridors and those producer cars, especially the Canadian mills and livestock industry that we have here in our country.