Mr. Speaker, the winter of 1996-97 accentuated a huge problem in grain transportation in western Canada. The Estey report, followed by the Kroeger report, made several recommendations, one of which was to put grain transportation on a totally commercial basis.
These reports recommended that grain companies and the railways should enter into contractual agreements for moving the grain to port. Why has the government decided virtually to ignore the major recommendations made by both Estey and Kroeger?