Members of the All-Party Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri- Food will hold an emergency meeting on the latest grain crisis.

Yesterday, Foothills M.P. and Associate Ag Critic, John Barlow, Associate Ag Critic, Luc Berthold, and M.P. Randy Hoback, convinced the Liberal majority to agree to an emergency meeting, March 19th.

Barlow says, the Liberals don't have to wait until the meeting to take action on the grain backlog seen across Western Canada.

"They could re-introduce extended interswitching, they can re-introduce the minimum grain car allocations for rail companies. These are just a couple of the things they can do just by an Order in Council that would help address this issue."

Barlow says, they could get things moving if the Liberals had been willing to split the Transportation Modernization Act.

"When they first tabled it last year, our suggestion was to split this bill. Take off the portion that talks about ensuring fair access to rail for grain farmers. Take that off and we'll expedite that through the approval process to ensure that those protections remain there, protections that we put in place as Conservatives in 2014. They refused the do that."

Barlow says, delays are costing producers millions of dollars waiting for the Transportation Modernization Act to pass.

 

Send your news tips, story ideas and comments to jgiles@goldenwestradio.com