Certainly, we have a real deficit. There's no doubt. In Canada, we have, effectively, a duopoly in our rail system, which makes it very difficult for shippers to have competition when they're shipping their goods across the country. This is part of the reason we were encouraged by the four-year pilot around the interswitching provisions in Bill C-39.
However, we feel those provisions should be made permanent on an ongoing basis, and we should remove the stipulation that they would only come into force when we have a more reliable trading relationship with the United States. This measure alone would create more competition in the marketplace for the transportation of agricultural goods, and it would support a more efficient and effective transportation system in Canada.
