Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I want to thank our witnesses for being here. We have quite a diverse representation of witnesses today, which is good when we're talking about providing a balanced approach to ensuring that the needs of our shippers are balanced with those of our railways, which are providing a service to our shippers. I made the observation during our last panel that we definitely understand the importance of our railway system to the economy of our country and the importance of our producers within that environment.
I had the opportunity of asking a question of a previous panel in regard to what I think has been a somewhat confusing message that perhaps has come from our railway companies in terms of comments made in a study done a year ago, when we were reviewing the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act. As I mentioned earlier, stats were provided to our committee during that study that demonstrated that extended interswitching was not used frequently. What we heard from our producer groups was that while it wasn't used frequently, and I think you mentioned it today, it was an effective tool used in negotiating contracts. If the legislation before us is meant to ensure market access and a competitive environment for our producers, what I would like to hear from you is a comment on that confusion. We were told that it wasn't used extensively and that it was an effective tool in negotiating contracts but that there's strong push-back on the long-haul interswitching that's included in this legislation. I'm wondering if you could provide a little more insight on that.