RAIL SAYS THERES NOTHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT! Over the past several weeks, Ive frequently called on the Harper government to take emergency action to ease this winters massive backlog in grain transportation and to strengthen the system for the future so this problem is less likely to happen again. Premier Wall, his government, the entire Saskatchewan Legislature, every farm organization in western Canada, and virtually every shipper of every other commodity have all said much the same thing. The western grain handling and transportation system has failed to perform at an adequate level. Through its painful shortcomings, that system is effectively saying to farmers ... dont you dare produce a better than average crop because we cant handle it and the consequences will all fall on your shoulders. Surely thats unacceptable. All the pressure seems to have hurt some feelings over at CP Rail. Last Friday, one of their corporate Vice-Presidents launched a nasty attack against me personally on the iPolitics news site. Fine. Withstanding such abuse goes with the territory. But lets look closely at his argument. He repeated for the umpteenth time the same old excuses that last years crop was a big one and this winters weather has been harsh. Those two things, according to CP Rail, absolve them of all responsibility. There was not a hint of contrition in the railways argument. In their opinion, their performance has been blameless. (Not even Gerry Ritz believes that anymore.) The vice-president didnt mention the totally non-competitive nature of Canadas railway duopoly which holds virtually every shipper as captive, preventing any effective functioning of normal market principles. He failed to mention the recent federal Rail Service Review, which was hand-picked by the Harper Conservatives to study rail service issues. Their report in 2011 found that the rail transportation playing-field was heavily tilted in favour of the railways, that railways were in a position to exercise undue market power, that shippers typically got the services they ordered from the railways only about 50% of the time, that shippers were largely without effective competitive alternatives and had no legal recourse when the system failed. The vice-president failed to mention that CP Rail has actually reduced its train crews, rolling stock and locomotive power. He failed to mention the companys ownership now in the hands of particularly aggressive investors who recently turfed CP Rails previous management and installed new people dedicated to enhanced shareholder gains above all else. There was no indication of where customer service might actually fit into their scheme of things. He basically said the only solution for farmers is just wait for spring. The vice-president did offer one useful insight however. In trying to shift blame onto those who load railcars at prairie delivery points or those who unload them at port locations, he depicted a system thats essentially a chaotic free-for-all without common-sense coordination, transparency or commercial accountability. And thats exactly how the Harper government designed it. Looking to the future, it seems clear that CP Rail will continue to oppose service level agreements that might implement clear, measurable and enforceable railway performance standards. Ill let farmers and other shippers judge whether thats good enough for them.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 11:12:46 +0000
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