Fisheries committee  My name is Ray Orb, and I am the president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities. SARM is an independent association that represents all 296 rural municipal governments in Saskatchewan. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today about Bill C-68, an act

Fisheries committee  Yes.

Finance committee  I'm not exactly sure of the stats on that. We know it's serious. It was actually precipitated by a real serious issue in the North Battleford area not too many years ago. If you recall, there was a town that was looking after the fire coverage. They didn't have an agreement with

Finance committee  To tell you the truth, it's not as much of an issue for us as it is in the urban centres—I represent the rural—but in my region it is an issue. If the federal government can develop some programs with the provinces in creating a national housing strategy, we really believe tha

Finance committee  Thank you, and good morning. My name is Ray Orb, and I am the president of Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, or SARM. SARM is the independent association that represents all of the 296 rural municipalities in Saskatchewan. I appreciate the opportunity to be here

Transport committee  I'm not sure. I would have to consult with the association again. It may be onerous, but there may be other ways that they would be able to get funding.

Transport committee  Saskatchewan, I believe, has more short-lines than any other province in Canada, especially in the southwest part of Saskatchewan, where the major carrier abandoned a good part of the railway system decades ago. Is it very important that those short-lines be maintained and contin

Transport committee  I think there is a certain amount of risk. In particular, the Western Grain Elevator Association is concerned about that. Although I obviously can't speak for them, I have heard them speak about the concern about the contracts, and specifically about being able to deliver into th

Transport committee  I think the concern won't be alleviated until the legislation is passed. If there are amendments that need to be made, that's one amendment that.... Perhaps you should go back to Bill C-40 and look at that legislation and reinstate the part of the legislation dealing with intersw

Transport committee  It's very sensitive because I believe the majority of the farmers would already have contracted grain through the grain companies or perhaps other modes of transportation to get that crop into place. That is really important. As I mentioned, a new crop year is already here. We're

Transport committee  Yes, there is a mention of soybeans, and that's something the crop logistics working group will be putting forward later this week. Soybeans have become an interesting crop because the genetic research has provided better varieties of that kind of grain. It's a product that I thi

Transport committee  The data now is distributed to the general public. It can be found on a website. It's very important to the shippers, particularly the grain companies, who look at that. But the producers look at that too to be able to get better prices in contracting.

Transport committee  It's very important.

Transport committee  I think ultimately it would have to do with defining adequate rail service, and there would be reciprocal penalties. Those are the two big issues, I believe. Our shippers, our rural municipalities, and the farmers within are concerned about interswitching, but the two issues that

Transport committee  I think there has to be more time spent on that. I think there could even be—we're hoping—something put into regulations that gives a better definition of what that is. I think we need to have a minimum requirement for coverage.