Mr. Speaker, I would agree that is true. There is no question that there are issues with the grain companies themselves. In fact, at the agriculture committee before the winter recess, a question was posed to them about what would happen with these additional charges, because it is costing them. The answer from the grain companies that we heard was, “If you can get it from the railroad, we will give it back to farmers”.
Clearly, the grain companies are saying that farmers are on their own. They will not fight for them. They will not stand up for them. The railroad will not give the money back. At the end of the day, farmers will be out of pocket from these additional charges.
The coordination between the elevator companies and the ports is off. That is why, as I mentioned earlier, the gentleman from the Port Authority of Vancouver said, “We are literally shovelling ships up and down the berth to simply load them part way and then let them go out, and load them part way again and then bring in some other ship”.
Clearly, it is an inefficient system. It needs to be rectified now.