Transport committee  The structure of the regulatory framework for railways is that railways publish public tariffs, which outline the conditions under which traffic is accepted and carried. They publish rates and they publish charges. Some of those charges are for activities or situations where ther

Transport committee  The act doesn't deal with giving the shipper any particular remedy in terms of seeking that kind of a damage. What it does do is give the shipper a remedy to complain to the agency—that's already in the act—about the service they are receiving and to have the agency adjudicate a

Transport committee  I can only speak to the purpose of this new measure in Bill C-52, which is to provide an extra tool for shippers beyond the tools that currently exist in the act for shippers to be able to seek the level of service they would like to have from the railway.

Transport committee  That is the direction, yes.

Transport committee  There can be terms with respect to coming back from service failures. Under paragraph 169.31(1)(b), if a railway fails to comply with an obligation imposed by the arbitrator, there are operational terms that can be in the agreement imposed by the arbitrator that deal with how to

Transport committee  They are limited to operational.

Transport committee  In that case, that would be subject to the administrative monetary penalty scheme.

Transport committee  The shipper can go to the courts.

Transport committee  Mr. Chair, can I just come back to the purpose of this section of the act and the purpose of this provision? It is very much focused on rail service. This section of the act is not intended to cover every possible element of a relationship between a railway and a shipper. It is f

Transport committee  The use of the word “operational” was very deliberate, to ensure that the scope of the provision covers a very wide range of service terms, but it did not cover absolutely everything in the possible universe of terms that may be put forward by a shipper. As we mentioned the last

Transport committee  I'm not sure exactly what kinds of terms you're referring to.

Transport committee  In the case of abandonment, the act recognizes that abandonment takes place and prescribes a process that railways must follow if they wish to abandon. Obviously, there's no desire to create an inconsistency with the current regime governing rail-line abandonments.

Transport committee  The shipper certainly could ask for that. We fully expect there will be cases where that kind of service obligation would be requested, and then the arbitrator in a decision, we believe, has the full authority to address that element of service. Now, whether the arbitrator choose

Transport committee  No.

Transport committee  Yes.