Mark Eyking

[Agriculture and Agri-food, February 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, dairy farmers across this country are concerned about their livelihood. They are concerned about the future of supply management. They feel taken for granted by the Conservative government.

What assurances can the government give to the dairy farmers here today that the government is listening to their concerns and will not undermine their livelihood?

[Grain Transport, February 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has brought out the Conservatives' view of anything that is organized in this country. Whether it be organized labour or organized marketing, it is all a disaster. However, at the end of the day, that is what built this country. We as Canadians work together. We see what has failed with the government getting rid of all of this. Now it has tried to put it back onto the unions or the Wheat Board.

My question goes more to the act the minister put forward last year that failed. The NDP alluded to it. I would ask the member what kind of teeth she would want in that act to make sure that the railroads do the job they have to do.

[Grain Transport, February 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the member hit the nail on the head about how the Conservatives dropped the ball on this. We see it even at the Vancouver port.

The Wheat Board used to have a way of controlling where all the cars were going. The grain industry is vitally important not only for farmers out west but also for people who buy the grain, for the livestock farmers in eastern Canada, and for people all over the world. We cannot leave it totally up to the free enterprise system of cars shipping potash or oil. There has to be a watchdog. Someone has to be accountable. There should have been quarterly reporting on this situation to see if people were being taken care of, and they have not been. It is on the Conservatives' watch, and they are going to have to suffer for it.

[Grain Transport, February 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would first like to thank the hon. member for his question, and I have to commend him. He was one of the few on the other side who even questioned the minister on the lack of action.

First the government got rid of the Wheat Board. The result is not making any more money for the farmers. Let us not open that debate, because it is gone. When the government got rid of the Wheat Board, it should have had something to take its place, and the railways act did not do it. It had no teeth, and the rail companies knew there was no teeth in it last fall. That is why they kept shipping more potash and oil. It was because there were no teeth in the legislation. These guys had the chance to have a good act that would be a watchdog over the railroads, and they did not do it. They got rid of the Wheat Board and put nothing in its place, and that is why we now have this situation.

Now they are trying to play catch-up, but it is costing the farmers money. It is costing farmers big money to have this catch-up, and it is not working. What is going to happen with all these grain piles come springtime, when moisture starts to get into it and it starts to deteriorate? Where are the customers going to be found?

[Grain Transport, February 5th, 2014]

Have I no time to wrap up, Mr. Speaker?

[Grain Transport, February 5th, 2014]

moved:

That the House do now adjourn.

I would first like to thank the Speaker for allowing me to bring this grain crisis to floor of the House of Commons tonight.

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Winnipeg North this evening.

Over the next four and a half hours, farmers and their families will be watching MPs debate the crisis they are facing, and the money they are losing. I am hoping that many other Canadians will also be watching, so that they can have an understanding of the crisis at hand on the prairies. We hope that following this debate tonight that we can see more action from the government.

We have been hearing from many farmers and farm groups from across the country of the frustration they are facing with delays in shipping and the money they are losing.

This last fall, in November, I visited Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. I witnessed firsthand the mountains of wheat, canola, and other crops that were building up outside of the grain elevators. I have seen the grain stored, not only in the elevators, but in machinery sheds and under tarpaulins.

At that time, many were very optimistic. The crop was good. The prices were good. They had customers. What more could one ask for?

I recall visiting Curtis McRae's farm in St. Andrews, Manitoba. He had over 30,000 bushels of wheat and 30,000 bushels of canola on his 5,000-acre farm; and it was a very impressive farm at that. He said that the local elevator was not taking any grain, as it was waiting for 600 cars to move the crop already at hand. That is just one example of the many thousands that we are seeing right across the prairies.

As a result, the prices started dropping. The prices have now dropped 40%. The problem is that there is no cost-benefit analysis and no business plan to manage the implementation of transportation. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food even defended the railroad last fall, stating that the grain companies' performance was adequate. It clearly was not.

Promises were also made by the minister to bring forward new legislation to rectify the imbalance in the market power between the farmers and the railroads, to enable shippers to get a decent level of transportation service. Federal legislation introduced last June, the Fair Rail Freight Service Act, was supposed to deal with this situation. Well, it has not worked.

Many prairie farmers agree that the legislation needs to be amended to make it easier to hit the railroad companies with fines over these transportation bottlenecks. The current act is not effective.

We have to realize that over 95% of Canada's export grain is shipped by rail. Canada is the top canola producer in the world and the second largest exporter of wheat. We had over 100 million tonnes of crop out west this year. What a bonanza and opportunity we could have had, and there were customers for the crop.

When we look at the nation's two major carriers, CNR and Canadian Pacific, they say they are each providing 5,000 cars a week, and one is at 5,500 cars, to move the grain. However, that is not even half as much as we need.

Not only do we see this on the prairies with the railroads, there were 20 big ships waiting for grain in Vancouver and 5 ships waiting at Prince Rupert, the two grain terminals on the west coast, and that was on October 31. Today, there are between 30 and 40 vessels waiting to be loaded in Vancouver alone.

We can see that there is a big problem. We have the crop. We have the customers. We have the ships. However, it is just not getting there.

Ships have been idling for as long as six weeks in Vancouver, waiting for grain. It costs $12,000 to $20,000 every day in demurrage penalties. Who is going to pay for that?

I was talking to a farmer yesterday from Saskatchewan, and it is going to come right out of the farmer's pocket. That is who will end up paying for these delays.

Canadian-based grain companies have been charged more than $20 million in fees for delays at the port of Vancouver since August, according to the Western Grain Elevator Association. Some grain companies have sales for China, but they are not able to transport all their grain.

What has happened? What are all of the rail services being utilized for? They are being utilized for crude oil, potash, and other products. They are getting priority. The grain farmers are not, though, because there is no watchdog over the whole system. This is leaving as much as 3 million tonnes of grain stuck in the Prairies.

Canadian railroads shipped 34% more cars of fuel, oil, and crude petroleum in October. They are shipping more products than in the year before.

CP Rail reported a 19,900-car shortfall, according to a January service report. Outstanding grain car orders for CN totalled over 17,000, according to the January 17 report.

Let us look at some of the prices. Less than a year ago, wheat was selling for $9 a bushel; now, farmers are getting less than $4 for the same quality of wheat. That is less than half the price. The fuel costs are all the same, the seed prices are all the same, and the fertilizer prices are all the same, but let us look at the prices the farmers are getting—and those prices are only if they can sell it and get it to their customers.

The problem is not a lack of a competitive transportation system, but that the grain is in competition, as I said, not only with oil but also with potash and coal. These are other commodities that are taking up the rail space. They accounted for 54,000 cars in November. That is a big increase from the year before.

We have a loaded rail cars waiting at the elevators for up to 11 days. Then we have the demurrage fees, which I have already talked about, adding up to $20 million.

We look at all of these losses. What do they add up to? We are figuring out now that they add up to $1 million a day, all of which will come out of the farmers' pockets. Overall, they are losing $1 million a day. What does the minister do? He throws $1 million at the whole project for a study. It does not take much of a study when we call these growers from all across the country.

Let us have a look at some of the farm leaders across the country and some of the newspapers that we get in the Prairies. I will name a few of the farm leaders. I will quote what they say in some of the articles.

The first one comes right out of the Canadian Press. This gentleman is from Keystone Agricultural Producers. My colleague knows very well that it is the biggest agricultural organization in Manitoba. The article says:

Doug Chorney of Keystone Agricultural Producers said the backlog is so bad that mountains of wheat and other crops are building up outside jammed grain elevators.

As prices fall, farmers are wondering what good a record bumper crop is to them if they can't get it to market.

“There is grain in piles across Western Canada”, Chorney said from Brandon, Man. “This creates big cash-flow problems for farmers. We all have bills to pay”.

The minister came out and said that the government will give the farmers a small advance payment. The farmers have all these piles of grain, and the government is going to give them an advance payment. That has to be paid back. It is only going to be paid back if they sell their grain. I do not know where the rationale is, and I do not think that farmers feel any more confident.

That is in Manitoba. Let us move over to Saskatchewan.

Norm Hall is the President of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan. I will quote from the newspaper what he said about the legislation that the Conservatives brought forward in June:

Norm Hall, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, said the Fair Rail Freight Service Act is just not effective.

He said the legislation needs to be amended to make it easier to hit railway companies with fines over transportation bottlenecks.

“There are no teeth...to make sure that it happens”, Hall said.

The legislation does include a provision for possible penalties of up to $100,000, but only if a government arbitrator decides a signed service agreement between a shipping company and a railway has been violated.

What is that going to do to make the rail service accountable?

That was out of Saskatchewan.

The Conservative members from Saskatchewan or the Prairies must have had an earful when they went home and were at the curling rink or hockey rinks over the last few weeks. It must be a hard go for them. However, there are answers and there are solutions out there.

Let me move over to Alberta.

Lynn Jacobson, president of—

[Request for Emergency Debate, February 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I am sure that you, as an MP from the Prairies, are well aware of the grain bottleneck out west. We have heard from many Prairie farmers who are frustrated about the delay in shipping.

I visited Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta in November, and I witnessed first-hand the mountains of wheat and other crops that are building up outside jammed grain elevators. Much of that crop is stored out in sheds or under tarps, and it is deteriorating. As a result, grain prices have dropped 40%. The problem we are hearing about from farmers is that no cost-benefit analysis and no business plan has been done to manage transportation.

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food even defended the railroad last fall, stating that the performance was adequate, which it is clearly not. Promises were also made by the minister to bring forward new legislation to rectify the imbalance in the market power between farmers and railroads to enable shippers to get a decent level of transportation service.

Federal legislation introduced last June did not deal with the situation and does not help farmers. Many Prairie farmers agree that the legislation needs to be amended to make it easier to hit railroad companies with fines for the transportation bottleneck.

Over 95% of Canada's export grain is shipped by rail. Canada is the world's top producer of canola and the second largest exporter of wheat. Almost 100 million tonnes of grain have been produced this year.

The nation's two major carriers, CN and CP, each provide 5,500 cars a week, but that is not enough for even half. Twenty vessels in Vancouver and five ships in Prince Rupert were waiting for grain on October 31. Today between 30 and 40 vessels are waiting to be loaded in Vancouver. Ships have been idling for as long as six weeks in Vancouver waiting for grain, at a cost of $12,000 to $20,000 per day in demurrage and penalties, and farmers are going to be paying for that. Canadian-based grain companies have been charged more than $20 million in fees.

I could go on about the many issues facing grain farmers.

I ask you, Mr. Speaker, for the sake of all grain farmers out west who are facing the loss of their valuable crop, to let the House have an emergency debate tonight to talk about this transportation crisis.

[Agriculture and Agri-food, February 4th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, when I met with grain farmers last fall, they were optimistic about their bumper crop and good prices, but not anymore. Most of their grain is still in their bins because the handling and transportation system has failed. Shipments are months behind, and some 50 boats are waiting on the west coast. Demurrage charges are $16,000 per day, per boat. This constipated system is driving farmers' prices down by 35% to 40%.

Why has the Prime Minister let this happen?

[Business of Supply, January 30th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I guess the truth hurts, and the minister is carrying a very detailed report that our critic from Quadra has given. The truth is there and I am very ashamed of the Minister of National Defence who has roots in Cape Breton. For him not to talk at the cabinet table with the minister and to keep the offices closed, I think has been a disaster this week, and it shows.

When Conservatives are not taking care of veterans, how is it going to hinder young men and women from getting into the military, seeing how they are not going to be taken care of? Is this going to have a major impact on people signing up to put on a uniform for this country?

[Veterans Affairs, January 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, today Ron Clarke and other veterans from across the country are visiting the Hill. They are here to send a message to the Conservatives: Do not close the nine veterans affairs offices across this country.

The government needs to help our veterans when they have risked their lives for us. These offices will have their doors locked on Friday and thousands of veterans will be left out in the cold.

Will the Prime Minister come to his senses and change this mean-spirited decision?