I agree with much of what the hon. member said. It has already been indicated that the Liberals will vote in favour of the bill.
However, he gives extraordinarily short shrift to a central point made by my colleague from Wascana, and that is that what the shippers want is to be compensated if they are badly served by the railway. For example, if the railway is late or loses the goods and it costs the shipper $1 million, and it is judged to be so, the shipper should be compensated for that $1 million to overcome the loss. The shipper would not then be a winner or a loser. The loss incurred by the shipper would be offset by the compensation.
For the bill to simply say that instead of compensating the shipper, the railway would pay the government, for no apparent reason, weakens it considerably. Why does the government do not include the principle of compensation?