Agriculture committee  Absolutely. I mean, what Greg said, his recommendations out of the service review...they're all recommendations followed I think across the grain industry in western Canada. The fact of the matter is that any charges to the railway for performance quality are not included under t

Agriculture committee  I can't say. I know there are three western farm organizations that represent farmers across western Canada, and then--

Agriculture committee  --the National Farmers Union. They're all part of that coalition. We represent the same producers that the pulse group represents. We're both represented. I am a pulse producer and--

Agriculture committee  For exact numbers? I can't put a number right on that, no.

Agriculture committee  When you talk about a competitive environment, I believe I heard at a meeting the other day that of the more than 200 terminals and grain elevators we have in western Canada, only five of them have access to both lines, where you can say there's competition. The vast majority hav

Agriculture committee  Yes, as the pulse growers said, maybe we need some legislation in the middle to address the service issues; before we wait for the end of the costing review to bring out one big lump, we should address the issues from the service review immediately.

Agriculture committee  Absolutely: that fallback is huge right now. We need that implemented soon. As for the three-year time period of commercial arrangement that the interim report alludes to, I don't think will work. It hasn't in the past. That immediate fallback to legislation is something that we

Agriculture committee  As Allen said, in Alberta in particular, we have a short line running virtually from Calgary to Saskatoon that CN Rail is abandoning right now, the Lyalta to Oyen line. As for the value to those farmers, the farmers are trying to buy that line for $19.1 million. It's a huge cost

Agriculture committee  I would say the same thing. We welcomed Bill C-8. The changes it brought were very welcome in the industry. We're very supportive of the service review. We're waiting to see what the final report says in order to move forward.

Agriculture committee  Yes, sir, there is always that balance. That's where we're looking. It's simple balance, whether it's a cost review or a service fee, wherever we are. When Greg addressed the thing about--

Agriculture committee  Yes. Our operation has suffered huge losses for this. I mean, the loss is simply a loss on the ground; we're not going to be able to recover all of it.

Agriculture committee  There are going to be grade and storage losses from it sitting outside instead of being binned properly. And it's time over money: I mean, this canola is contracted and priced on a September delivery. I should have had money in my pocket in September. I'm going to see December be

Agriculture committee  I'll make a quick comment. I believe the western farm organizations are all members of the shippers' coalition--the Wheat Board is for sure--and we do support the rail costing and rail service review being done and the recommendations that are coming forward. We need to move thi

Agriculture committee  Further to that, the Edsforth studies provide what we believe is one side of the story. The costing review will allow a full telling of the story and will allow the railroads to step forward and put their side forward. This is viewed as a farmer-based study and, truly, it is: it'

Agriculture committee  I'm not sure of any reply from Prime Minister Harper either. I know that we did receive a reply from Minister Ritz and Minister Cannon, before Minister Strahl's time. Their answer was that they'd look at the possibility of conducting a review after the service review was complete