Agriculture committee  We're not waiting for Bill C-49 to pass. We're going to invest $250 million in the network, following our announcement two weeks ago of $3.2 billion for the year. We're not waiting for Bill C-49 to pass. Bill C-49 comes out of a consultation by the minister and David Emerson over an almost two-year period about how the environment is working today.

Agriculture committee  I would like to clarify something. We are not blaming it on the winter. Nonetheless, when winter arrived, we were not as well prepared as we should have been, and we admit that. So that is why we announced specific measures. In particular, we increased the number of locomotives available right now and increased the number of staff.

Agriculture committee  In February, we provided grain producers an average of 3,400 cars during the worst part of the winter. We were able to increase that to 4,500 cars three weeks ago, and to 5,000 cars two weeks ago. We clearly indicated that the capacity of the network and of the supply chain was about 4,000 cars per week in the worst winter conditions.

Agriculture committee  Obviously passing Bill C-49 through the House of Commons would possibly be a good step in the right direction, first of all. Second, I think that part of that bill will require that the railways exchange information. We realize today that this impacts not just farmers and the farming community but also Canada's reputation abroad.

Agriculture committee  If I may, we have taken very concrete steps since 2014. As an example, CN's annual capital investment last year was $2.7 billion. This year it will be $3.2 billion, an increase of $500 million. We set a big number for capital. It's a great network that we're investing in, but clearly it's where you invest the capital that makes a difference for resilience and fluidity, so under the leadership of Mike Cory and Jean-Jacques, we've looked at our capital constraints and where the bottlenecks are that we can address very quickly.

Agriculture committee  In 2014, as we had the order in council, CN committed under the order in council to move x tonnes of grain on a weekly basis. Obviously, when it came into effect in March of 2014, the weather broke two weeks later, and all the grain was moved before the end of the crop year. We use this argument at CN: press releases don't move grain; people and our locomotives do.

Agriculture committee  I guess the same idea would be that orders in council don't move grain; doing that requires that the railways face the issues up front and do so in a very organized fashion. Obviously, in 2014—you can debate whether it was required or not—as soon as the weather broke, both railways started moving their grain.

Agriculture committee  If I may, obviously with Bill C-49 being in the Senate, CN's position is very clear: pass it as soon as possible. The benefits are probably twofold. First of all, it will provide additional tools to our customers to hold the railways more accountable, which is not a bad thing in and of itself.

Agriculture committee  Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for the invitation to appear before you today. Our colleague and newly appointed CEO Jean-Jacques Ruest has asked Michael Cory and me to be here to talk about CN and our current challenges in western Canada when it comes to moving the grain.

Transport committee  Can we send the answers to your questions?

Transport committee  Even if we imposed quotas, if the grain is not available for either climate or temperature reasons, we can't lengthen our trains to increase the volume of goods. Strictly speaking, it wouldn't have had an impact. We wouldn't have reached the quotas and we would have been penalized.

Transport committee  Maybe, but the obstacle was the network and railcar capacity. We could have exceeded the quotas if the network had had more railcars available and if there had been the capacity to receive more deliveries. However, since the crop was substantial, as soon as the temperature warmed up, we delivered the grain.

Transport committee  If I may, in the U.S. it's important.... It's not just reciprocal in the U.S., it's commercially negotiated. It does happen that U.S. railways interswitch with each other, but it's based on a commercial negotiation at commercial rates. They don't have regulated rates that don't compensate for the costs of their infrastructure, for example.

Transport committee  Good morning, Madam Chair. My name is Sean Finn. I am executive vice-president, corporate services, at CN.

Transport committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Hello everyone. My name is Sean Finn and I'm the executive vice-president of CN. I'm joined by my colleague, Janet Drysdale. We appreciate the opportunity to meet with the committee to share CN's views on Bill C-30, the Fair Rail For Grain Farmers Act. I would like to take this opportunity to confirm that CN is ready to transport grain this fall.