Mr. Speaker, NDP leader, Alexa McDonough, and the federal NDP caucus joins with the Saskatchewan NDP government in expressing outrage at the news that the federal Liberals are giving the railways the right to charge more for hauling grain by increasing the cost of capital formula by 1.5 per cent.
The federal Liberals have failed to defend farmers' interests again. In fact, this Liberal government sat silently as the railways let farmers' grain accumulate into an unprecedented backlog costing farmers $65 million.
The Prime Minister said last Friday that his government would not force the railways to speed up the movement of grain. Instead of holding the railways accountable for poor performance, the Liberals have the gall to reward the railways with a raise of $15 million for their bad service record.
The Liberal government is allowing the railways to boost their profits for poor service at the expense of farmers. This is yet one
more example of the federal Liberals' arrogance which will come back to haunt them in the upcoming federal election.