Evidence of meeting #68 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was railways.
A video is available from Parliament.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Western Canadian Shippers' Coalition
I can't honestly answer that one. What I can say, though, is if they can provide data in the U.S., there's no reason why they can't provide it here.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Right. You're just using that as one example of something they are doing. I just wondered if there were other things, not necessarily things to do with data.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Western Canadian Shippers' Coalition
Okay.
Senior Legal Advisor, Western Canadian Shippers' Coalition
There are other things. We've limited our remarks to service and performance metrics. There's a great deal more financial information available in the U.S. than in Canada. We have information on those types of things.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Good afternoon. I am just passing through the committee.
One thing struck me in Mr. Pellerin's comments. The Conservatives introduced a good bill, Bill C-30, specifically about what you call interswitching. Now we have a Liberal mish-mash that is going to have consequences for small businesses and to threaten jobs.
My first question would be for Madam Stuhldreier. I hope I pronounced her name right.
Senior Legal Advisor, Western Canadian Shippers' Coalition
That was very good.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
You mentioned that the Liberal bill would have a negative impact on Quebec regarding exemptions in the corridors. Can you explain in a little more detail what that sounds like.
Senior Legal Advisor, Western Canadian Shippers' Coalition
I didn't bring my railway atlas with me; I should have. There are some rail lines in northern Quebec where, in order to come off that line and really go anywhere, the traffic has to move through a corridor that's excluded under the long-haul interswitching provisions. CN lines that connect with the main CN system, or with other carriers in the Montreal or Quebec area, are the only ones where a connection exists. Some parts of Quebec could connect through Rouyn-Noranda or Val-d'Or, but there are significant lines in northern Quebec that don't have that option. Really, the only place they connect with a second carrier would be in the corridor and so long-haul interswitching as drafted is out.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Western Canadian Shippers' Coalition
It's very similar to the scenario we're facing in British Columbia.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
Is there any way we can fix this or amend the bill?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Western Canadian Shippers' Coalition
You would have to take out these exemptions.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
Should we recommend that we take out the exemptions?
Senior Legal Advisor, Western Canadian Shippers' Coalition
To deal with a specific issue of interchanges in those corridors, you could simply delete the reference to interchanges in the description of those corridors.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Western Canadian Shippers' Coalition
That would make it more effective, possibly.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
Thank you.
Mr. Pellerin, you are representing small businesses. You are working with small and medium businesses. In your introduction, you say that this mechanism in the bill would negatively impact those businesses.
Can you expand on this? It's a little bit scary when you say that this could even run some of your members out of business.
President, Western Canadian Short Line Railway Association
Really, the theme of today from the get-go has been competition. For at least 12 of the 14 short-lines, this reduces that competition. In essence, it makes it more difficult for our customers to compete, and that makes it hard for the short-line.
As I mentioned several times, our issue isn't our ability to operate. We have to work on our ability to increase volumes. Along with our customers, we need to be competitive.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
Do you feel this bill would help you to increase your volume?
President, Western Canadian Short Line Railway Association
No. As this bill as written right now, if you look at it from the straight, short-line perspective, there's nothing in it that helps.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
It's disappointing. This government claims that it wants to create jobs for the middle class. You come here and say that this will reduce competition, this will increase greenhouse gas, and this is not good for the economy.
Is there any way we can fix this at this time?
President, Western Canadian Short Line Railway Association
I think what we need to do is go back and look at—
Conservative
President, Western Canadian Short Line Railway Association
There were some issues. We were also here discussing that a couple of times. It wasn't perfect.
The point we're trying to make in our visit here is that this does nothing for us. We have come here to Ottawa several times saying that we need some help. We're in very tough shape. We need help, and this isn't helping us. We need to continue to talk if we want to help short-lines and our customers who are on the short-lines.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
If you have any recommendations about amending the bill, show them to us, and we'll do our best. As you know, we're not a majority, but we'll do our best for you.
