Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Oberg, my questions are for you. First of all, the Canadian Wheat Board recently conducted some studies to determine how much railway companies make from handling grain and grain products. You did that for 2007-2008 and also for 2008-2009. The study shows that CN and CP made some hefty profits. No one is opposed to profitable railways. However, those profits should not be made at the expense of grain producers.
In 2007-2008, the firm that you dealt with evaluated profits at $221.7 million. For the 2008-2009 crop year, it was $383.5 million. You have shown us something interesting as well: that is a huge increase in revenue which is capped at 20% and which was deemed fair, equitable and acceptable under the Western Grain Transportation Act.
As I was saying, the idea is not to prevent the railways from being profitable; it is to ensure that agricultural producers are not the ones bearing the brunt of these staggering profits. And the 20% revenue cap has clearly been exceeded.
Mr. Oberg and Mr. Banack, you added your signatures to the letter sent by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture to Prime Minister Harper on this specific issue. Did you receive a reply from Mr. Harper to the letter written on June 30, 2010? If so, what was his reply?