Transport committee  I don't know what the rules are in the United States. I know that the Canadian carriers do carry railcars into the U.S., but I don't know the extent to which they do it over their own rail lines versus other peoples' rail lines. There is interswitching that occurs, but I don't

Transport committee  On the first part with respect to nobody having opinions on it, I'd like to clarify. I don't have an opinion because I'm not the person who knows the differential. There may be people with an organization or company, etc., who do have that knowledge, but I don't personally. With

Transport committee  We suggested that we might be able to or have the right to negotiate service agreements directly with the rail companies, agreements that include aspects of mutual financial accountability when the negotiated obligations are not met. Under the current act, we can take part in the

Transport committee  Yes, because there is the opportunity to access other rail carriers from the U.S. that bring in more capacity.

Transport committee  Correct.

Transport committee  What we've seen through 2013 and onwards is that the terminal capacity on the west coast is sufficient. Now whether any individual players decide that they want to own and build their own assets, that's a commercial decision that they make based on their needs. But from an infras

Transport committee  We are absolutely an export-dependent country, and we sometimes look as a grain industry, for example, a little bit myopically at the environment. So we, for example, say it's good news for us that we're going to get lots of rail supply because other sectors are down. That's not

Transport committee  A short answer, yes. It's not significant from a grain shipper perspective. The size of the facility and the limited shipping season is such that it's not a significant facility in the grain-handling network.

Transport committee  Yes. I'm not sure what numbers they are looking at, but they are the regulator and they do have sound data. The data I am aware of measures the use of extended interswitching, and that's anything beyond 30 kilometres. I'm not sure what's being used inside of 30 kilometres. What I

Transport committee  We're definitely seeing growth in the Asian markets, the developing worlds, as their economies improve. One of the first things that improves is the quality of their food, and Canada supplies very high-quality food products that are in much demand around the world. The areas of g

Transport committee  If you look at the parts of the network that grain shippers operate, the grain terminals, specifically in the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, there is surplus capacity available. We are still able to meet even crops of this size, and increased crops going forward. There a

Transport committee  It will eventually get to market, and that's historically been the lesson that we've learned. The difficulty with it eventually getting to market is that we are not taking advantage of the peak pricing periods. In any commercial relationship, a willing buyer and a willing seller

Transport committee  From that same data that's been collected by Quorum Corporation, which is the grain monitor from the shippers—and they're self-reported numbers by the shippers—the shippers have reported savings of $5.2 million. That is from what they have seen as being the rates that were offere

Transport committee  Exactly. First of all, in the agriculture sector, I think we have always been eternal optimists, and we are at the beginning of the season. Moreover, as you said, demand from other sectors is lower than in 2013 owing to the current economic climate. I think our sector has learn

Transport committee  Yes, absolutely. As we said, this tool gives us bargaining power that we did not have before. It is not as good, however as a clear, specific, and long-term agreement. From one request to another, it is really transactional in nature, but it is very important all the same.