Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to provide a brief response to the hon. Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food's statement on the grain transportation system of today.
The minister explained for us in the House what in my judgment was not just a problem or series of problems this year but a real crisis in the grain transportation system. While some of the stakeholders in the transportation industry did not see it as a crisis, I believe most did; certainly farmers who could not get their grain moved.
Granted, a unique set of problems did occur this year with the weather and farmers know a lot about weather problems. I believe we should be able to develop a system that can adjust to extreme weather problems. We must try to be prepared for eventualities of all kinds.
The minister also clearly articulated the repercussions of the marketplace to our problems. Our reputation as a reliable grain provider was questioned by our customers. Essentially they issued an ultimatum to us: "Improve your delivery record or we will be shopping somewhere else". That is very serious.
The minister then outlined some of the ways we have been trying to deal with this crisis, including referring the work of the subcommittee which had two days of emergency hearings and the May 16 meeting of concerned parties in Winnipeg.
We on this side concurred with the report of the co-chairman of the subcommittee, believing that some good solutions were proposed. In all honesty I do question the impact or benefit of the May 16 meeting in Winnipeg when the subcommittee had just heard some of the same witnesses and when certain stakeholders, including farmers, were not at the meeting.
Once again farmers are left out of the problem solving equation and yet they are the ones who bear the brunt and the cost of a crisis such as this. I would implore the minister to get farmers more directly involved in issues that directly affect them.
I have said before and will say again that farmers can fix almost anything if they can get their hands on it.
The minister noted developments which have helped alleviate the situation. A west coast labour settlement occurred, although it does not seem to be entirely satisfactory and in fact may only be temporary. The railways have also increased their fleets.
One amazing thing that many of my colleagues who sat on the subcommittee were incredulous over is why the turnaround time for rail cars on a trip to the ports is not any faster than it was 80 years ago. Surely there must be room for improvement there.
The minister also stated for us today the lessons that we have hopefully learned from this crisis and announced a list of six steps that he and the Minister of Transport will implement by January 1, 1995. Generally we believe they are good and we believe we are on the right track. We would urge, however, that the entire system be overhauled so that there are commercial and financial incentives on the part of all to improve efficiencies and services. If each stakeholder in the entire system held up their end of the bargain and were rewarded for doing so and penalized for not doing so, the system could move toward more excellence.
Farmers are held responsible for their actions, and so should everyone else in the system.
What is also needed is legislation to prevent labour disputes from holding up product movement while still allowing for a collective bargaining processes. My colleague from Lethbridge and I are presently bringing forward legislation to address this.
We on this side of the track are willing to work with those on the other side of the track to ensure that this crisis does not happen again, to revitalize our world-wide reputation and to help farmers get their grains and their goods to market.