Following is a statement from Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) President Ron Bonnett regarding today's meeting on grain transportation with Minister of Transportation Marc Garneau and Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food Lawrence MacAulay.
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"The Canadian Federation of Agriculture is pleased to have met today with Transport Minister Marc Garneau and Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay during a consultation session on western grain transportation. We felt that the meeting was a good first step in strengthening relationships between Transport Canada and farm groups. Our views and concerns were made clear, and were echoed by a number of other western grain organizations also in attendance.
CFA and its members reiterated that it's imperative to resolve farmer concerns on rail transportation because it is farmers who pay the costs of shipping grain to export positions. We also stressed that a rail costing review is well overdue and that Canada must develop a long-term transportation strategy that functions smoothly with agricultural industry requirements.
We will keep our members updated on developments and look forward to working with the government to fulfill its goal of ensuring that Canada's transportation system is safe, reliable and facilitates trade and the movement of people and goods."
Source: CFA-FCA