Thank you, Chair. I'll be quick.
I'm looking forward to the meeting on the 19th because it's clear that our colleagues are going to learn some things that I don't think they quite understand. First of all, the quickest action isn't sending a letter to the Senate. The quickest action is doing an order in council. That wouldn't take weeks. It would take perhaps hours for cabinet to pass that through a couple of ministers if they had the intestinal fortitude to make that decision and take action.
For Mr. Peschisolido, I appreciate that he came the furthest, even further than I did, but assuming that the rail lines will act and that there are consequences if they don't.... That's the whole issue, right? There aren't consequences if they don't. That's what we're asking for: to ensure that there are consequences.
The letter we need from the Minister of Transport and the Minister of Agriculture is about what definitive action, what steps, they are going to take. Let's say the March 15 deadline comes and CN and CP have tabled a plan, which they should have done months ago and should have taken action on: that isn't going to resolve the problem in the immediate future. What actions are the Minister of Transport and the Minister of Agriculture going to take to get the grain moving? That is the critical question we're asking. As of right now, because we've voted down having those ministers appear as part of that meeting, we aren't going to know the answer to that, and I think it's vitally important that we have an action plan from cabinet that outlines what they are going to do to address the situation in the immediate future, not at some future point down the line.
Thank you.
Again, I want to thank my colleagues for making the trip here. I appreciate it.