Transport committee  I suppose we could.

Transport committee  A price on pollution...? No, we don't.

Transport committee  Obviously, that's not fair. You probably need to read the climate change action plan that Saskatchewan has. They actually have a way to mitigate greenhouse gases. I know it's up for debate, but there is a plan there.

Transport committee  That's a good question. We've actually been working with the short line association and we have demonstrated that by taking several trucks off our highways and road systems and putting it on a rail car, we're actually reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We should actually be credi

Transport committee  Several of the rural municipalities are. Actually, there are disposal companies that most of them hire, and they haul the garbage and do the recycling as well. Saskatchewan right now is working on its waste management strategy.

Transport committee  Yes, that's an interesting comment. I think our interests in moving products.... It wouldn't matter what product it is; in our case, it's potash or grain products. We need to be at the table with the federal government when we're talking about federal infrastructure programs. A

Transport committee  No, our roads and our bridges, in particular.... We have a lot of bridges in rural Saskatchewan, and we're actually doing a study on that right now. We are in a state of disrepair as far as the bridges go. Of course, you know that if you don't have a good bridge system, you don't

Transport committee  That's one of the reasons we went out last July. We were invited by the Vancouver port authority to tour the terminals and the facilities there. We went on the water to see a lot of the facilities, and we saw some of the problems they were going through. Organizations like ours

Transport committee  I would say that there should be someone who has responsibility for all of that. Yesterday, when we met with some of the MPs here in Ottawa, we discussed the western development strategy, which was actually a federal initiative for which the government had set aside a fund of mo

Transport committee  Of course, we have opposed the amendments, the changes to the legislation. Actually, both Bill C-68 and Bill C-69 affect fisheries and navigable waters. We feel that the changes are actually going to impede what municipalities need to do as far as work is concerned. The projects

Transport committee  With regard to how they could share in the benefit, I think some of it is working with the municipalities, as well as the major carriers. I know that through FCM, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, there is a good relationship between the carriers and the municipalities

Transport committee  I can't speak on behalf of the shipping industry, but only on behalf of producers. In the meetings that we've had with the shippers, they were forecasting a normal-sized crop, I think, within the five-year average, with good quality. However, at least one third of the crop is st

Transport committee  We are certainly hoping that's the case. I can tell you that since Bill C-49 was passed, the two major carriers, CN Rail and CP Rail, have been a lot more apt to sit down with organizations like ours. In fact, I'm scheduled to have a meeting with CP Rail next week in Saskatoon.

Transport committee  Of course, it's no secret that we've been supporting the Province of Saskatchewan in fighting against any kind of federally imposed carbon tax. That's basically because we believe that the province has come up with its own action plan to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, and we

Transport committee  Yes, I will. Thank you. First of all, I'd like to thank the committee for allowing me to appear this morning. My name is Ray Orb, and I am the president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, which is known as SARM. We were incorporated in 1905 and have been t