Thank you, Chair.
It's frustrating. I know there is goodwill in the proposed subamendments to the motion put forward by my colleague Luc. But, you know, we're on break week from the House, and we've had this important meeting today. We're not sitting next week. I think, because of the context we're in right now, we need to look at this next week. Four hours is four hours. We'll have CN and CP. I would love to have Minister MacAulay and Minister Garneau come before committee and talk about their plan, but I don't see why we can't start looking at this next week.
Writing letters is great. Wishful thinking, good intentions, hoping, and wishing haven't done anything to make this situation better. I think the letters that were put out yesterday were just a front to say, “Look, we're taking this seriously. Look at us dealing with this issue.”
I think you know that the Minister of Transport wrote a letter in January. What happened with that? Nothing.
There are so many things that can and should be done. Looking at this issue in a week or two is going to do what to help farmers? I think people who are in this situation right now are looking towards the agriculture committee to stand up for them, and I think taking this issue seriously would mean we would look at this next week.
We all have responsibilities as members of Parliament and as members of the agriculture committee. I think we should be looking at this next week. I think we should be putting pressure on the minister to be using all the tools in his tool box. In 2013-14 there were measures taken by the Conservative government. Those measures put pressure on the railways to get their act together, and they worked. Penalties—$100,000 a week—are peanuts to CN and CP. The pressure that farmers are under currently.... They should not be in this situation again. We should have learned from the grain crisis in 2013-14. There were signs.
Obviously we cannot go back in time, but I think we need to do our job, and I think we need to put pressure.
And you, too, members of the Liberal government, need to put pressure on your ministers, the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Transport. Bill C-49 is not going to fix everything, but definitely when we get back to the House, I'm going to go forward with a unanimous consent motion to ask the Senate to carve out the grain piece and get that moving along as quickly as possible. The part of Bill C-49 on grain transport needs to get passed, but we have to fix it too. We have to make sure that we get that right, and not just pass it to pass it. It can't just be a band-aid. I think we have to make sure we get this right. We have to take the time and we have to get it right. Amendments and subamendments to this motion are great, but I think we need to look at this seriously. We need to roll up our sleeves; we need to get down to work; and we have to take this seriously.
I think having a meeting next week might by shitty. We have to cancel stuff in our ridings, but it's our responsibility. This is our job, so why not get down to work next week? It's an inconvenience for farmers. This might be an inconvenience for us, but we have a responsibility to fix it.
That's my piece.