Your profitability is directly affected by how reliably and consistently Canada can meet global demand.
In partnership with Pulse Canada, other provincial pulse organizations, and others across the agriculture sector like Grain Growers of Canada and Soy Canada work together in the area of transportation policy and advocacy for the benefit of all growers. Together, we strive for a unified voice at a national level to enhance the Canadian agriculture supply chain.
Pulse Canada’s work promotes supply chain performance to meet growers’ needs, ensuring:
- Wide visibility of the performance of critical supply chain service providers (with an emphasis on Canadian railways)
- Effective regulatory frameworks that encourage consistent, reliable, and cost-effective service from supply chain service providers
- Eased movement of pulses from origin to destination through best practices and improved interactions among supply chain stakeholders
Railway Performance
The agriculture supply chain must continually improve to stay competitive globally. To make improvements, objective measurements are required.
The pulse industry, through Pulse Canada, established the Ag Transport Coalition. The Coalition is a group of agriculture industry stakeholders working towards enhancing the competitiveness of the agriculture supply chain and has developed railway performance measurements for 90 per cent of grain shipped from Western Canada. The resulting real-time daily and weekly reporting is objective, credible, and an accurate measure of supply-chain effectiveness. The reports encourage transparency and accountability for railway performance.
The Ag Transport Coalition’s industry members include Alberta Wheat Commission, Canadian Canola Growers Association, Western Grain Elevators Association, Inland Terminals Association of Canada, Canadian Oilseed Processors Association, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
Canada Transportation Act Review & Bill C-49
While it can seem complicated, Bill C-49, the Transportation Modernization Act, benefits the pulse industry through better transportation. From our perspective, launching a regulatory process to develop rail service and performance indicators is essential.
A significant outcome of the Bill is a comprehensive data regime to hold players accountable for their performance and track progress toward the goals of the Transportation 2030 strategy.
History
Bill C-49, the Transportation Modernization Act, received Royal Assent in May 2018 after passing in both houses of Parliament.
The main aspects of Bill C-49 are:
- Introduction of reciprocal penalties into Service Level Agreements
- Replacement of extended interswitching with a new “long-haul interswitching” provision
- Provision for own-motion inquiry powers on systemic or emerging rail freight issues for the Canadian Transportation Agency, under guidance from the Minister of Transportation
- Revise the Maximum Revenue Entitlement calculations to promote railway investment in hopper cars
- Redefinition of adequate and suitable service
The Canadian pulse industry provided essential input in the Bill’s process. After careful review of the report by the CTA Review Committee Chairperson, David Emerson, we identified recommendations that aligned – or didn’t align – with the agriculture industry’s recommendations. We also pointed to areas that may lead to positive outcomes with further industry discussion.
What Is Next for Bill C-49
Since Bill C-49 came into effect, we have been calling on the Canadian government to make an amendment: Provide the Canadian Transportation Agency with Own-motion power that removes the requirement of the Agency to receive a complaint from a shipper. Instead, the Agency should be able to investigate service issues and railways’ actions independently and identify solutions within their regulatory toolbox.
