Transport committee  I'll answer your competition question first, and then take the opportunity, as the honourable member suggested, to answer the previous question as well.

Transport committee  I'll get there. You asked about—

Transport committee  I'm going to make a couple of comments. We have five pillars around our business plan, on what Bill C-49 does to help us enable our business plan. Around safety, we would agree that the LVVR amendments, as proposed, are ones that would allow us to move forward and improve the s

Transport committee  I'll make a couple of comments first on where we saw some of the flaws in extended interswitching, and then bring it across to where LHI has flaws. Extended interswitching was done at a regulatory costing at a prescribed rate, which didn't necessarily give us an adequate return

Transport committee  The rail supply chain is the backbone of our economy. Not only is the Canadian freight rail system the safest, most efficient, and environmentally friendly means of transporting goods and commodities, it achieves these goals while maintaining the lowest freight rates in the world

Transport committee  As I stated before, grain is important to CP. We feel we already have incentive to move grain. It's an important part of our business. We want to move it, we want to provide great products and services to our customers, and that's why we have developed programs like the dedicated

Transport committee  As Mr. Finn has noted, we realized we had to do better. We now have over 70% of our grain moving in a new product that we call the dedicated train program. The dedicated train program has reciprocal commitments, from us to the shipper, and the shipper to us, around how we're goin

Transport committee  I would add that the methodology they use creates an average rate and treats every circumstance the same. The reality is that if you're going in and switching a grain elevator, it might be a very efficient move. If you're going deep into a chemical plant, it may require a whole d

Transport committee  The comment I would make is that right now it's a fairly labour-intensive process. It requires on-site visits. The burden of doing it every year would seem a little unnecessary for costs that don't tend to change a lot, at least in this low inflation environment. I would sugge

Transport committee  We believe that it creates some distortions to what normal market rates are based on. The intent of the transportation policy is that it has always had regulation as the backstop, so why should we leave in something that has the risks? We should understand what the right policy

Transport committee  No. They are the main carrier.

Transport committee  It would result in commercial negotiation. As we've said, the issue with the regulated rate is that it has some market-distorting effects, and it would allow the normal commercial pricing processes to be re-established. Some of these commodities still may result in movement on

Transport committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning. We thank the committee for the opportunity to discuss the consequences of Bill C-30 for the Canadian grain supply chain. The majority of our comments this morning will focus on the provisions of the act that grant authority to the Canadian T

Transport committee  Good morning, Madam Chair. I'm James Clements, vice-president, strategic planning and transportation services.