Three members have been named to a panel tasked with making recommendations to Ottawa to improve rail service for Canada’s shippers and customers.
Alberta MP Rob Merrifield, the federal minister of state for transport, on Wednesday named Alberta’s former provincial agriculture and rural development minister Walter Paszkowski, a seed grower from Sexsmith, to chair the three-member panel.
Retired Canadian National Railway (CN) vice-president David Edison of Surrey, B.C. and Bill LeGrow of Coquitlam, B.C., a retired vice-president with Vancouver timber firm West Fraser Mills, round out the panel.
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The review, first announced as part of a package of amendments to the Canada Transportation Act in May 2007, is meant to examine Canada’s rail-based logistics system including shippers, terminal operators, ports and vessels.
The review’s first stage, already underway, involves “analytical work to achieve a better understanding of the state of rail service,” the government said.
Paszkowski’s panel, meanwhile, is the second stage: the development of recommendations and preparation of a final report by mid-2010 for the federal minister of transport, currently Ontario MP John Baird.
Its recommendations can include both “commercial and, if necessary, regulatory solutions,” the government said.
The recommendations are to be aimed at improving the “efficiency, effectiveness and reliability of service within the system, facilitating economic growth and trade expansion, and improving accountability among stakeholders.”
“This is a very important undertaking for Canada’s rail transportation system, which will require consultation with key stakeholders, including the users and providers of rail transportation services,” Merrifield said in a release Wednesday.
The panel’s recommendations are to be based on the results of analytical work conducted under Phase I, as well as consultations with stakeholders and “any other relevant information and findings.”
As chairman, Paszkowski’s resume of relevant experience in commodities and public policy includes stints as Alberta’s agriculture (1993-97), transportation (1997-99) and municipal affairs minister (1999-2001). He has also served as chairman of the Canola Council of Canada, president of the Alberta Canola Growers and currently as a director with the Prince Rupert Port Authority.
“Lost opportunities”
Doug Robertson, president of the Grain Growers of Canada, said in a separate release Thursday that the group was pleased to see “a knowledgeable chair and (a) shippers’ representative” on the panel.
Paszkowski, Robertson said, “has a good understanding of grain and rail transportation issues.” The group noted it has also recommended LeGrow for his “extensive experience as a rail shipper.”
Each year, Robertson said, “we hear stories of how railcars are not spotted on time, or not spotted at all, costing shippers and farmers substantial dollars in demurrage, lost sales opportunities and extra labour costs.
“Therefore we look forward to the panel’s solutions next summer that we anticipate will lead to greatly improved rail service and shipping opportunities.”
