Thank you for appearing before committee at this late hour. Maybe it's not a late hour in Winnipeg, but it's getting there. I guess there's no Jets game on tonight anyway.
I will preface my comments with a preamble.
CN and CP appeared before the committee, and we asked them to explain themselves because they blamed the weather.
Now all of us who are Canadians and have ever worn a toque—I've worn one probably since I was one year old—we know weather is going to be a factor in Canada every year. To us, that's not a good enough excuse. Further, CN made comments to the effect that before the weather had hit us this particular winter, weather was not the factor. They blamed other things, such as a lack of infrastructure and that no matter how many cars they wanted to put on the rails, they could only get so many of them on the rails.
To me, I see a direct move by the rail companies to avoid responsibility in what they're putting back in infrastructure. We all understand. We all want rail companies in Canada to service people well and to make money. We're not opposed to that, but when they're not held to a standard, that becomes a problem such as we are talking about tonight.
There is another topic I want to address before I ask a question. My brother used to work at a mill in B.C. We're in northeastern B.C. where we sell grain and many other things. About four years ago, he told me that they had to stop production in their mill because of a shortage of railcars. So this problem has been going on for many years.
Somebody mentioned teeth and whether there were sufficient teeth. I want to ask you and Mr. Enns too, whether you think $100,000 a day is adequate. The desire that we have on this side, and both sides really, is to cause enough pressure to cause the rail companies to act, because they haven't prior to this. They simply haven't.
I can't remember your name, the person in Winnipeg, but you've said you've already seen some changes on the Prairies in getting the cars to your producers.
I want to ask the other witnesses who haven't answered, Mr. Dahl from Cereals Canada, and also Mr. Enns. I've been hearing positive things. That $100,000 does seem to have an effect and it is working.
Have you seen a positive change because of that?