Thank you.
By nature of background, let me first of all say that I fully appreciate the role the railways play in the economy of Canada. I've said they are the economic backbone.
As you know, the gateway initiative was started by our previous Liberal government in recognizing the potential growth from the Pacific Rim, not only for opportunities for western Canada but for all of Canada, and the opportunities for the railway systems as the prime mover of goods from the ports, not only to other parts of Canada but into the United States as well.
We enjoy the advantage, for example, through the ports of Prince Rupert and Vancouver, of being anywhere from one and a half to two days closer to Shanghai, a major Asian port, by natural sea route. The only way we can maintain that advantage of earlier contact and getting those goods into central Canada or Chicago or the midwest is by having an efficient rail system that can take advantage of those one to two and a half days and deliver those goods.
Mr. Mackay, you talked about the investment the railways have made. The Government of Canada, again through the commitment of the previous government, and followed up by this government, invested federal moneys in the Port of Prince Rupert. It isn't just the railways that are making these investments. The benefit to the economy of Canada has been recognized. We're talking about container cargo being up 300% by 2020. We recognize that there has to be an improvement to the way the railways operate, both in terms of capacity and efficiency, I guess you'd say, of existing assets. There's going to have to be an investment, and the investment will pay back in profits.
My concerns are the issues my colleague, Mr. Volpe, mentioned earlier about the safety record of CN in particular, which this committee is investigating, as well as the ministers panel. There are concerns of ours relating to the efficiency and the continuity, if you want to call it that, of services. Derailments can affect the confidence in terms of overseas shippers and their ability to take advantage through our ports of that one-and-a-half-day or two-day advantage we have. If we're going to have derailments as frequently as they seem to have happened, it tends to erode some of that confidence. I just put that out there as a point.
More particularly, there are two aspects that I'm interested in.
One is the issue raised by B.C. Chamber of Commerce and the national chamber of commerce about shipments to the grain terminals. I guess it's the switching or the right-of-service access in Vancouver. I gather that's being addressed, but that has been a major concern.
The other is the whole issue.... I think I heard you suggesting that the shippers were basically the cause of the discussions of the CDR not proceeding. The minister made a reference in his presentation the other day that unfortunately the two sides were unable to reach an agreement. One of the things we heard from the shippers is that the legal cost to support a complaint under CDR is in the neighbourhood of $100,000. That's just the legal costs.
I guess the concerns I have are that we talked.... Mr. Fast made reference to the size. There has been an image of intimidation, that in a somewhat monopolistic approach, the railways, by virtue of size, have been able to be bullies, if you want to call it that, with some of these shippers. I guess that's the reason for the kinds of provisions that are being suggested in Bill C-8. It's to try to level the playing field.
You said the group FOA needs to work well, and you say it must be equal in terms of their interest for group FOA. I'm saying it also has to be fair. What we were hearing in the presentations in fact is the necessity for having the system apply to all the parties in a group FOA and apply to them once the decision is made. But it's not necessarily realistic that the problems be equal in terms of the impact initially, because it's the very nature of the service and the way railways run that it may vary. But they may have a common thread in terms of a particular concern, and by grouping together they can assist themselves financially in managing to meet the financial clout, if you want to call it that, of the railways in competing.
I'd appreciate your comment.