Prairie canola grower organizations have written to Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz expressing concern about his statement regarding their view on freight rates made during Question Period in the House of Commons June 17. During an exchange with Liberal MP Wayne Easter regarding a call by Prairie farm groups for a railway costing review, Ritz said “We are not hearing any concerns from canola and pulse growers.” The following is a letter to Ritz from Kevin Bender, chair of the Alberta Canola Producers Commission. Dear Minister:
Recent publication of comments attributed to you in Question Period indicate that canola growers have not yet expressed concern to you about the current cost of rail freight. Please be assured that the cost of moving canola is of significant concern for the 15,000 canola producers in Alberta.
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While the canola industry in Canada has a larger amount of domestic value-added processing than other crop commodities, many canola producers deliver their product to export position by rail and directly bear that cost. Given Alberta’s proximity to the Port of Vancouver, the cost of freight will always be an important issue for Alberta’s canola producers, perhaps more so than growers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan who are closer to canola crushing facilities than the Port of Vancouver.
The cost of rail freight should be reviewed often enough so as to ensure that the costs paid by farmers to move grains and oilseeds by rail reflect current costing conditions and allow gains from efficiencies in the rail system to be shared with the growers as soon as they are achieved by the railways.
The canola producers’ national organization, The Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA) has been in contact with (Transport) Minister Baird to discuss the possibility of conducting a costing review. We would urge you to support this in your discussions with Transport Minister Baird.
