Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his intervention. It gives me an opportunity to expand on the position espoused by the Minister of Transport in his response to the hon. member in question period on February 29.
I have a few words to say about the movement of grain for the current crop year, which is down from the same period last year. However, to be fair to the hon. member for Mackenzie, there are a number of reasons for this.
Movements were extremely low in August and September of this year because of low carry-over stocks. Grain traffic did not really pick up until the end of the harvest. By contrast, in 1994 there was plenty of grain to move and the system was at full capacity in August and September.
Weather, as previously stated by the Minister of Transport, has also been a factor this year. There were heavy rains on the west coast in December and January. Beyond the temperatures the hon. member spoke about, there were also mud slides and of course track outages. These things take time to repair.
The prairies also experienced three weeks of record cold, as the hon. member enunciated, which slowed deliveries to the country elevator system and rail deliveries to port. Fortunately the system is catching up. Vessel line-ups at Vancouver are expected to be at normal levels very shortly.
In spite of the slow start and unfavourable weather conditions, it is anticipated that the entire crop will be moved this year.
One of the objectives of the grain transportation reform announced last year was to create a less rigid and more efficient grain transportation and handling system. A number of positive initiatives have been announced by industry since western grain transportation reform was implemented. We believe even more benefits will be achieved as structural changes take place.
Grain farmers are enjoying the benefits of high world prices for their product. I am sure the hon. member for Mackenzie will agree with me when I say that we all want to be sure that their grain gets to market promptly and at the lowest possible cost.