Agriculture Committee on March 7th, 2018

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

I want to welcome everyone to this special meeting in early March.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(4), four members of this committee have requested a meeting to discuss their request to invite grain producers and officials to provide an update on systemic issues in Canadian grain movement, the backlog of grain shipments, railway delays and fulfillment performance in order to improve grain shipment along the value chain.

I will open the meeting.

Mr. Berthold.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Also want to sincerely thank my colleagues who agreed to set aside a few hours during their week off to be here. It shows the importance of this issue not only for members, but also for western grain producers who are facing a major crisis.

I would like to move the following motion:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food immediately invite grain producers to provide an urgent update to the Committee on systemic issues in Canadian rail transportation and the backlog of grain shipments, given that grain farmers are facing costs incurred on unfulfilled orders, and given that delays compromise Canada's competitiveness in export markets; and that the Committee invite officials from CP and CN to provide an explanation on railway delays and fulfilment performance in order to improve grain shipment along the value chain.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Berthold.

You've all heard the motion.

Are there any comments on this?

Mr. Berthold, go ahead.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

The committee's Conservative and NDP members called for this emergency meeting because farmers need the government to take action now. We are united in our willingness to find immediate and long-term solutions. I am convinced that the committee's Liberal members also have the willingness to find a solution.

The situation is disastrous. When the government began an ideological battle by introducing Bill C-49, an omnibus bill from the Minister of Transport, all the observers warned it of the dangers of a new crisis.

We have all seen the figures. Between the two of them, CN and CP fulfilled 32% of hopper car orders last week. CN fulfilled 17% of the orders, and CP fulfilled 50% of them. Combined, last week marked the worst performance so far for the 2017-18 crop year.

Farmers are forced to absorb demurrage fees. We don't often use that term. I will give the definition of “demurrage”, for those who are not used to hearing that word. Demurrage fees must be paid by the charterer to the ship owner, in a voyage charter, when the time it takes to load or unload exceeds the laytime set out in the voyage contract. It's good to use the proper term.

In order words, the grain remains in elevators.

We learned that there are 35 vessels in the Port of Vancouver, we think for grain. Another five are waiting in Prince Rupert. With every unfulfilled order, Canada's reputation as a reliable trading partner is taking a hit. To quote an editorial:

Increasingly, our reputation among global customers is that of a supplier with aging and inadequate transportation infrastructure which fails to deliver its products on time, whether it’s canola or crude.

This has very real implications at a time when we want to expand market access, maximize our crops' yield, and increase our exports.

Every unfulfilled order undermines the reputation of reliable partners for Canada.

Unfortunately, the Liberals have ignored our advice to pass a separate bill on grain transportation and have not extended or made permanent the provisions of the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act. So protection for grain producers disappeared on August 1, 2017. Consequently, as predicted by the official opposition and a number of observers, a crisis occurred. It did not take two years; the first winter following the end of protection ensured by Bill C-30, a crisis situation arose in grain transportation.

Allow me to read a few excerpts of comments made on June 5, 2017, at second reading of Bill C-49, since that's pretty important.

My colleague Kelly Block, who is the transportation minister within our shadow cabinet, took the floor to speak to this omnibus bill. If people are still unsure that it is indeed an omnibus bill, here is how Minister Garneau himself described it, on June 5, 2017:

Specifically, the bill proposes to strengthen air passenger rights; liberalize international ownership restrictions for Canadian air carriers; develop a clear and predictable process for approval of airline joint ventures; improve access, transparency, efficiency, and sustainable long-term investment in the freight rail sector; and, increase the safety of transportation in Canada by requiring railways to install voice and video recorders in locomotives.

That is how the minister himself described Bill C-49. You will understand that we are far from Bill C-30, which focused only on grain transportation.

That is one of the reasons why the consideration of Bill C-49 is taking so long: the government wanted to make an omnibus bill focusing on several different topics and concerning a number of stakeholders. It was clear that its consideration would take time.

My colleague Mrs. Block reiterated the following, during the study of Bill C-49, at second reading:

Furthermore, when I introduced a motion in transport committee last week calling on the committee to write to the Minister of Transport and his government House leader to ask them to split the bill into the following sections, rail shipping, rail safety, air, and marine, to provide an enhanced and possibly expedited scrutiny, every single Liberal member voted against it without even a single comment as to why.

In short, on June 5, 2017, we already asked that Bill C-49 be split, so that we could study the protection of western grain producers more quickly.

The Conservatives responded positively to the request of their Liberal colleagues from the transport committee to expedite the study of Bill C-49. The Conservatives agreed to return to committee a week before Parliament resumed. NDP members were also in attendance. If I remember correctly, they were also fully prepared to review the bill and to dedicate a whole week to that study in order to expedite the process. After the summer break, all the committee members came here and spent a week discussing Bill C-49. We knew it was important.

However, there was a major issue. When we were studying Bill C-49, the provisions in Bill C-30 had already expired nearly two months before. So the protection was already gone. Those are the arguments my colleague Kelly Block reiterated when the committee studied Bill C-49.

Let me draw your attention to another excerpt from Mrs. Block's comments:

In the fall of 2016, the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities undertook a study of Bill C-30 and held a number of meetings on the merits of these measures and whether they should be allowed to sunset. We were assured that if we lived with this extension, these issues would be dealt with by August 1, 2017.

Unfortunately, the government did not keep its word. It did not ensure that those provisions would be dealt with by August 1, 2017.

Mrs. Block concluded her comments with the following:

In conclusion, this much is certain: the key measures in Bill C-30 will be allowed to sunset on August 1, before this legislation receives royal assent. The Liberals have had nearly a full year to get new legislation in place but failed to do so, and shippers will suffer the consequences.

On June 5, 2017, she predicted that this would happen. Unfortunately, we are now facing that situation.

The Liberal government and railway companies have been inactive since August. It was business as usual for everyone. It was only yesterday that the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food bothered to take the first step to resolve the crisis: he wrote a letter with the Minister of Transport asking railway companies to prepare a plan to resolve the crisis and to post that plan on their websites by March 15. However, since the consequences of this crisis are being felt every day, last week we asked the government to act now, to implement the necessary tools and use its power to resolve this crisis as quickly as possible.

It seems that the calling of this emergency meeting had the positive effect of getting things moving. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has at least written a letter. This is a step in the right direction, but we have to go much further. We were expecting the minister to call a Cabinet meeting to adopt measures and make things happen, so that this crisis would be resolved immediately. The presentation of a plan and measures to ultimately find a solution should not be endlessly postponed again. The crisis is happening now.

This leads us to conclude that the government, aside from this letter, is once again relying on luck and the good faith of railway companies, instead of taking action and implementing the necessary measures to ensure that grain is shipped to markets, that farmers are paid and that this season's exceptional crop yields would not be compromised owing to a lack of planning by those who have the power and the tools to take action.

It's simple: the Liberal government must take immediate action to address the backlog in grain delivery and provide the tools needed to hold railway companies accountable for inadequate services. Inaction is costly. Talk to the president and chief executive officer of CN about that, as he lost his job because CN had not managed to provide a quality service. CN clearly indicates in its press release that it fired its president and chief executive officer for that reason.

If CN has realized that it should have taken action earlier, I don't understand how none of the advisors and other employees who are working at the offices of the Minister of Transport and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food saw this crisis coming. Will a minister have to be fired for inaction—

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Just a moment, Mr. Berthold. I was just told that there is no sound for the meeting on ParlVU. So I propose that we take a break for a few minutes to try to resolve this technical problem.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

No problem, Mr. Chair. That will give me a chance to take a sip of coffee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

We're back in session. The problem has apparently been fixed.

Go ahead, Mr Berthold.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I was at the end of my introduction.

As I was saying, the federal government must act right away. We cannot wait one or two weeks. The Liberal government must take immediate action. It has the means and the capacity to take action to ensure that this is working.

As I was saying, one of the two railway companies in question, CN, fired its president and chief executive officer owing to his inaction and the lack of services, according to the CN press release. There is a true crisis happening. People from the offices of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and the Minister of Transport should take note of what just happened at CN and understand the seriousness of the crisis and the urgent need for action.

I have also taken note of the apologies issued this morning by CN. That is an action I want to commend. CN recognized that it had failed to fulfill its duties in the case. Allow me to quote a few excerpts from the CN press release:

“We apologize for not meeting the expectations of our grain customers, nor our own high standards,” [Interim President and Chief Executive Officer] Mr. Ruest said. “The entire CN team has a sense of urgency and is fully focused on getting it right for farmers and our grain customers, regaining the confidence of Canadians businesses, and protecting Canada's reputation as a stable trade partner in world markets.”

CN decided to take action. All this is probably a consequence of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture's arrival in Ottawa last week, of the press conference held by western grain farmers and of the convening, thanks to our initiative, of this emergency committee meeting. When we invest all our energy in something and work together, we can achieve results. However, the committee has few means at its disposal. It has to rely on the decision of the government and the cabinet to expedite the process. That is what we want.

Time is of the essence; we called for this emergency meeting to recognize and resolve the worst backlog in a number of years in grain shipping.

Everyone here is aware that this is happening at a time when an ambitious export objective has been set—$75 billion by 2025. That figure comes from the Barton report. A study has even been undertaken to figure out how technological innovation can be used to achieve that export objective. Logically speaking, without an adequate transportation infrastructure and with companies being unable to send Canadian grain to markets, we will never reach that ambitious objective.

That is why it is important for us to talk about it. The committee should take note of this and hear what producers and railway companies have to say about the current situation in order to find a medium and long-term solution.

I repeat that, in the short term, the solution is in the hands of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

The crop yield was very good this year. Farmers should not be punished for successfully increasing their production. However, they are literally paying the price of increased productivity because they cannot ship their product.

Right now, when we are trying to increase our access to markets, not being able to perform on contracts in a reliable and timely manner goes in the opposite direction of the one we want to take. There is a lot of volatility around access to markets, specifically given the renegotiation of NAFTA, but also the unexpected tariff increase on Canadian products in markets where Canada would like to expand, especially India.

Those situations are beyond our control; we cannot do anything about them. We have no decision-making power in what is happening abroad. However, we have a way to do something about our grain transportation system, as we are the ones who control it. We do not depend on other countries for that. It is up to us to implement appropriate measures to ensure that our grain is shipped to foreign markets. We have to implement everything to ensure that Canadian farmers have access to a logistical system that delivers their products to markets in a predictable and timely manner.

Todd Lewis, President of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, said that his year's shipments are disastrous and that we cannot allow ourselves another similar year.

Daryl Fransoo, Director of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, said that a crisis is happening right now. The levels are astronomically bad. Farmers are getting together and trying to do something.

Wade Sobkowich, Executive Director of the Western Grain Elevator Association, said that the situation was not improving, but rather getting worse.

Art Enns, Vice-President of Grain Growers of Canada said that this situation is unacceptable and must change.

Finally, the Premier of Saskatchewan, Scott Moe, said the following:

“We need the grain moving.”

I quote: “We need it moving sooner rather than later,” Moe said, warning there “is a cash crunch that is coming.”

We will certainly have the opportunity to talk about that. Transportation and shipments are being discussed a lot, but let's not forget the producers who cannot be paid because they cannot ship their grain to market. This is a disaster for many farmers in the west.

The grain crisis of 2013-14 cost the Canadian economy $8 billion. This loss affects not only the farmers, although they do bear the brunt. It is also a direct loss to our economy.

There are reports indicating that losses will be higher this year. This is unacceptable. We cannot constantly undermine our own growth. As everyone knows, people want more Canadian products because they are the best in the world. Technology is being considered as a way to meet export targets, but what good does it do if the higher yields of perishable crops are lost?

We have to find a long-term solution. The solution must not only provide quick relief, although we do want an immediate solution. The committee must definitely hear the solutions that grain producers have to suggest and recommend. We must hear what explanation CN and CP have for the disaster this year, what they have done, what they will do to remedy it, and what they will do to help. We must also ask the government what it is going to do for grain producers in the west, who will unfortunately suffer major economic losses if nothing is done to help them.

We can't keep talking about these problems year after year. We need a viable solution specifically for Canada in order to resolve the systemic issues in grain shipment.

Clearly, we will always be at the mercy of the weather. We live in Canada and have winter every year. Unfortunately for those who do not like winter, it is part of life in Canada. Why? Because we are in Canada. It is unacceptable for the rail companies to use this as an excuse.

In conclusion, this study is intended to identify the systemic problems. We want to hear from stakeholders who want a plan and action immediately, but who also want us to find a way to prevent this crisis from happening year after year. We want to make specific recommendations to the government to find solutions to the grain shipment crisis in Canada. We are asking for the support of all MPs around the table, that is, of all members of the committee. We cannot say it is not our problem, because it is Canada's problem. When Canada is unable to export its grain or sell its products abroad, it is our responsibility to address the problem. It is a problem for agriculture, because we are talking about agricultural products.

There is more for us to do than consider Bill C-49. We must also do an exhaustive review of the problems that undermine grain shipment and provide viable and feasible solutions immediately.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Berthold.

Mr. Breton, you have the floor.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I will be very quick.

First I want to thank my opposition colleagues for tabling this motion. We are essentially in favour of the motion tabled today. We would, however, like to propose a few amendments, which I will mention right now.

We would like to use an already scheduled meeting, the committee's meeting on March 21, 2018, to discuss this issue. So we are taking immediate action. In the first hour of the meeting, we could meet with CN and CP officials. In the second hour, we could hear from representatives of the Grain Growers of Canada.

We would also like the list of witnesses to be sent to the clerk no later than 5 p.m. on March 15, 2018.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Breton.

You heard the amendment.

Would anyone like to comment?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Chair, may we have a copy of the amendment?

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

I do not have a copy but I can read it out or the clerk can.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

The clerk will read out the amendment.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Ariane Gagné-Frégeau]

The amendment proposes that a meeting be held on March 21 during which the committee would hear from CN and CP officials from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., and from the Grain Growers of Canada from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The amendment also proposes that the list of witnesses be sent to the clerk of the committee by 5 p.m. on March 15.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Mr. Barlow, you have the floor.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank my colleagues across the floor and the NDP for supporting us on this motion. It truly does show that we are working together and that everyone understands the situation that we face in western Canada. I do have a couple of concerns about my colleague's amendments. This is not to say that I don't appreciate the support; these are just the facts. March 21 is too late, and the reason I say so is that road bans in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta will be in place well before then. They are probably being put on right now. Road bans mean that the municipalities are putting weight limits on the roads as of the next week or two, meaning that farmers will not be able to haul their grain in the next couple of weeks. It is that critical.

If we wait another two or three weeks to host this meeting and try to come up with some solutions.... In my opinion, there are things the government can do immediately, even before that meeting, but I am concerned about the March 21 date because the road bans across western Canada will already be in place, meaning that producers will literally not be able to haul their grain to the terminal. That means they won't be getting paid.

The other concern I have is limiting it to one meeting. I appreciate that this is something we have to deal with quickly. Having CN and CP there is important, but I think we're very well aware of what their input is going to be. Our producers and stakeholders have asked the government and us in this committee to come up with a plan by March 15 to try to come up with a resolution for this. To have just one hour to listen to stakeholders, producers, grain companies, and groups like that, I think, is just disingenuous. We have a list of more than a dozen witnesses whom we would like to see. Not including the Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Transport in that one meeting really will do a disservice to our stakeholders, who are looking to us to try to come up with some options here. Again, I appreciate your guys being here. I know this not what you had planned on doing during a constituency week and that you're all busy. I don't want this to come across as being ungrateful, but I just think that March 21 is simply too late and that limiting this to one meeting is doing us a disservice. In my opinion, we're just going to gloss over it and are not being serious about handling this issue.

I talked about the road bans for sure, but the other thing we need to understand here is the cash flow issue. Our producers have a critical cash flow problem. If they can't get their product to the terminal, they don't get paid. If they don't get paid, they can't repay their mortgage and they can't repay their loans. I would also like the government to consider having discussions with lenders, banks, and FCC to get some flexibility in loan repayments, and some forgiveness, or some extension of lines of credit or promotion of the advance payment program. There are lots of things the government could be doing in the meantime that it's not doing. I think we really have to understand the critical situation that we are in right now. This has been delayed too long, and I think for us to wait until March 21 is pushing what is already a critical situation past the point of no return. I think we have to act more quickly than that.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Barlow.

I want to welcome Ruth Ellen back to our committee. She has been here a few times before.

Welcome. In the middle of the break, I'm sure you're thrilled to be here as we all are. Mr. Hoback is also replacing Mr. Dreeshen. On the list we have Ruth Brosseau.

Go ahead, please.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Thank you, Chair.

I would like to say how happy I am to see you guys again. I wish it were in different circumstances, but it's good that we're having this meeting. It reminds me of all the years I spent on the agriculture committee with Randy, although we were on opposite sides of the table at the time. It also reminds me of a situation in 2013-14 when we did work together. We were three different parties with different points of view on different issues, but we were all able to come together, work hard, and put politics aside to make sure that we were standing up for farmers.

It's really disappointing and frustrating that a few years later we're back in the same situation. We did have red flags come up. We talked about the urgency to act. On Bill C-49, we tried to have the part about grain transport carved out to make sure it would be adopted more quickly. The situation we're in right now is very frustrating.

I think that once again we all need to work together to make sure that we are standing up for farmers and that we are going to get this right this time around. I'm hopeful. I'm optimistic. Once again, I think we and the government need to use all the tools in their tool box. There are some options that were used in 2013-14 that can be applied to the situation we're in right now.

I'm happy to see that there is an openness to looking at this at committee, but I'm just concerned, because looking at this on March 21 is once again too late. The timeline that was given for the expectation for the ministers to act was March 15. Every day that goes by.... I can't imagine being in the shoes of the people who are trying to transport their grain and how frustrating this is for those farmers. They already deal with weather and so much unexpected volatility, and for this to happen again is completely unacceptable.

I'm really hoping that.... We do have our two weeks off from Ottawa when we're supposed to be back in our constituencies, but I think we need to sit down as the agriculture committee and flesh out what options can be undertaken immediately by the government.

I'm supportive of the motion by Luc Berthold, but I think we really need to have CN and CP here. We also need to have Minister Garneau and Minister MacAulay or their representatives come to committee. It's our job to stand up for farmers. This is something that should be non-partisan. I think March 21 is way too late. I know that Bill C-49 is in the Senate right now. It's an omnibus bill; it changes 13 laws. We did try to have that section for grain carved out. When we get back to the House, I propose that we do a unanimous consent motion to have the Senate take out the bit about grain to have it fleshed out and to see if they could look at ways of getting that moving forward faster.

For now, in dealing with this motion, I think we really need to make sure that we are listening and taking the time to take this situation seriously. I'm hoping that there will be an openness from the Liberals on the other side to look at this seriously and to have CN and CP, the ministers, and also the farmers here. We have to listen to the farmers. This is a complicated issue. It's not black and white. I think it's time for all of us to roll up our sleeves and make sure that we get it right for them this time. We can't drop the ball again. We just can't.

Those are my comments for now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Ms. Brosseau.

Mr. Drouin, you have the floor.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

We have been talking about it for half an hour already.

Why March 21? Is there some reason in particular?

I do want to read a press release from the Grain Growers of Canada, our main stakeholders. The one thing they're asking of us is to have a unified voice to press the Senate to pass this bill as quickly as possible. That's what they're asking of us.

What can we do as a committee before March 21 in order for us to put pressure on the Senate? While we as a committee may not be able to hear from witnesses prior to March 21, I think we can write a letter, as a committee, to the chair of the transport committee. They've already had nine meetings. I know it's possible to pass the bill in the Senate much quicker. The House has done it in two months. That wasn't counting the week we had during the Victoria Day week in May and the week we had during Thanksgiving.

I think it's very much possible that the Senate can pass this bill as quickly as possible. The House has done its job. Now it's up to the Senate to do its job. I'm not seeing extra meetings from the Senate to hear from more witnesses. We as a committee must do our job. We have done our job already. We've done our job three times. We voted, and it passed first, second, and third reading in the House. It's over on the Senate side. From a committee's perspective, I think we should write a letter right away, sign it, and send it to the chair of the transportation committee, obviously before March 21.

Mr. Barlow, I know you were talking about the FCC. I'm not sure if you got to see the press release, but it's hot off the press. The FCC has offered assistance to customers impacted by grain movement delays. That's already on the docket for farmers who have been impacted.

I suggest that we write a letter to the committee and hear from witnesses to see.... I know that the rail companies have up to March 15 to come up with a solution and to publish it. I think it would be incumbent on us to hear about the progress, or lack of progress, on March 21. Yes, we do need to hear from grain growers, but I think we should urge the Senate to pass this bill before March 21. They could do it on March 20. They're sitting on March 20, so they could do it on March 20.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

We will get back to that.

We'll continue with the discussion on the amendment.

Mr. Peschisolido, you're on the list.

[Joe Peschisolido, Liberal, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

This is a serious problem, and I'm glad to be here, because we have a backlog. We have a problem and we need to fix it.

I agree with Madame Brosseau, Monsieur Barlow, and Monsieur Berthold that we all need to work together in a non-partisan way among all levels of government and agencies. I was heartened to receive a letter this morning that was directed to the rail companies, CN and CP, by both Minister Garneau and Minister MacAulay, saying, hey, there's a problem here and we need to do two very important things: one, we need to get rid of this backlog; and two, we need to figure out how to have an efficient way of transporting grain so that grain farmers can continue to contribute to our economy. The ministers have requested that they come up, by the 15th, as Monsieur Drouin said, with a plan and put it on their website. So I think we all are engaged here.

Mr. Barlow, perhaps a couple of hours isn't enough to hear from grain growers. We can always have more meetings on it, but I think it's important that everyone get involved here—and I think everyone is.

I also saw in my inbox a note from CN saying that, yes, they may have dropped the ball on this one and that they're willing to work with everyone involved. This is a problem and we need to fix it. I'm heartened that we are all working together.

I fully support the amendment that Monsieur Breton has put forth. I'm not sure whether we need a further amendment, but if we need more time at committee, we'll have it. In fact, as a government, as stakeholders, we're not waiting until the 21st. This meeting is a good meeting, because it's pushed people to act quickly. The government is moving quickly, and it seems as if the rail companies are moving quickly as well.

My suggestion, Mr. Chair, is that we support Monsieur Breton's amendment.

If we do need some more time, Mr. Barlow, I'm sure that as a committee we can provide that time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you.

Just before we move forward, I would ask the committee to refer to me. I know that we're all on good terms with each other, but please refer to the chair instead of naming someone on the committee. Thank you.

We now have Mr. Longfield.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Thanks for keeping us all together in the conversation.

Also thanks to the opposition for bringing us back to Ottawa to look at how we can add our value and our networks to the discussion that we are having, and in the upcoming meeting that we'll be having on the problem we're facing out west.

We have two areas that I think are of concern. We have the systemic areas mentioned in the motion, and then we have the immediate crisis that we as a government and the rail companies are dealing with. With regard to the systemic issues, I'm looking forward, in the study we'll be doing, to having a motion on the table to ask how we will get to $75 billion in exports, what technologies we will need, and what we will need to do to support our export of agricultural products.

I'm thinking that we will be getting into the systemic issues in a lot of detail in that report, which is going to be lengthy, but the ground is thawing as we speak, and hopefully it will be fine. It doesn't look like it in Ottawa today, but we know that spring is coming, so we know that we need to deal with the emergency situation we have in front of us.

I was on the phone earlier this week, calling out west, talking to grain companies in Calgary and Saskatoon and getting their sense of where the problems are and the source of some of the problems. They mentioned the heavy snows through the mountains this winter, with the risk of avalanche being one of the main risks they are dealing with when they get into the mountains. They talked about the cold weather on the Prairies forcing the rail companies to use shorter carloads so that the few operating locomotives we have had to take fewer cars. That was a temperature issue.

They said that they understand weather-related issues, but they want to see what the longer-term solutions are going to be for this in terms of the numbers of locomotives on the tracks, how we manage avalanches, and how we make sure we can get the high-throughput terminals on the Prairies feeding the ports on the coast. I hope that will be part of our study coming up.

I was on the plane today reading the correspondence. CN has already responded to the ministers' letter. We had both the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and the Minister of Transport sending a strong letter to the rail company saying that we need to see progress and an action plan, and then I did see the response saying that people are being pulled back from holidays or pulled out of retirement, that leases are being signed, and that orders are being made for the locomotives, so there is activity.

A few minutes ago we received information that Farm Credit Canada is going to be providing financial assistance to farmers who need to purchase their inputs for this year. The farmers can't get the cash from their crops that are sitting in almost-full terminals.

We do see some work going on, but I think that we, as a committee, need to understand that work to make sure that we are doing everything we can, so I'm supporting the motion for March 21. I think we will have a lot to talk about by then and we'll get into further studies when we talk about how we can make sure in the future that we can develop the export markets we need to develop using the best technologies and best solutions we can.