Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I have to say that this is not the first time I've dealt with the railways on some of these issues. I did that on the transport committee. I'm happy to see the change in safety attitude that has now come upon CN, because I have to tell you we just about had to subpoena CN and CP to show up to talk about the safety and the number of derailments we were having two years ago.
Getting CN to come to our committee meeting wasn't that easy. I can't imagine what it's like for local mayors and reeves to get CN representatives to come out. Actually I can, because I've talked to several of them who have been very frustrated with the fact that you make this process of keeping your rail lines intact and your loading sites intact sound so easy. I have farmers struggling to try to deal with CN and offering to pay for these sites. They can't even get through your level of bureaucracy to talk to anybody who's willing to make a decision on these things.
One of the things that the member from Peace River and I undertook to do is to go around and talk to community representatives from some of these places that you are proposing to shut down. When you take a look at them, the biggest complaint in their community is the level of service and the level of maintenance on these sites that are currently existing.
I can't believe that you're telling me that in Westlock, Alberta you're spending $12,000 a month to service that site, because you certainly don't ever cut the grass at that site, and it's pretty tough to walk the line, from what I've seen. It's pretty hard for farmers to want to use these sites when you see the conditions that oftentimes they are left in.
I do want to get to some more productive questions, though. You talk about the fact that very few producer cars are being loaded through these sites, yet it is nearly impossible from what I understand--and correct me if I am wrong on this--for a producer, as Mr. Goff has said, to load non-board product with you. At the end of the day, the non-board product, at least in my part of the Prairies, has been an increasing amount of what is being produced.
So you have a product that really should be an opportunity for you to have more service, more cars going through, which would mean more profit for you, and somehow these farmers are coming to me and saying that they just can't get non-board grains onto producer cars.