The grain shipping requirements imposed by the federal government have only been in place for less than a month, but Peace River MP Chris Warkentin says he’s already hearing that grain is being moved out of the Peace Country.
He admits the rail companies aren’t happy with having to move a minimum amount, but his government believes it’s the best fix to the grain backlog.
“Grain companies and the rail companies believe that they’re doing what they should be doing. Obviously we, as government, don’t believe that that’s the case; we believe strongly that we need to defend the producers and farm family first and foremost and that is what we’re doing.”
Warkentin adds his government wants to see grain producers compensated for storage costs if their contracts with rail companies aren’t met.
The federal government has extended its requirement for rail companies to move a minimum of 500-thousand metric tonnes of grain a week by April 7th.
The original order meant increasing their capacity until June 7th, and has now been pushed to August 3rd.
If not, they face significant penalties.