Thank you very much. I'm glad the witnesses are here so we have an opportunity to talk and everyone can listen to some of the concerns that exist.
Ian, you mentioned the concerns you have with short lines and poor service. I don't think people recognize the importance of that aspect. Everything is affected because of it.
The road bans at spring seeding that we talked about earlier are an issue that is going to affect farmers and those who are going in, since even if they start calling for grain right now, it's going to be difficult to move it, and you have all of these other issues. I think that's one of the parts that is so critical for us to look at.
I know, Jeff, you were talking about the long-haul interswitching concerns. I know that when you were engaged in this issue back in 2013-14, this was a critical component as well.
Minister Ritz, we've seen so many things that have happened. You spoke about the tremendous development of infrastructure that is taking place in our system. This started when real investment went to give farmers the freedom to market and we started to see the issues that were expanding.
I thank all of you for the efforts you have made.
I'm wondering, Mr. Ritz, if you could talk about some of the concerns and issues you see, how the order in council was able to move things forward, and why, if that was a solution back in 2013-14, it wasn't done back in December or January when this problem started to develop.