CN calling on government to ‘turn the page’ as company faces fines

Watch above: the president of CN wants feds to ‘turn the page’ on grain rail fines

SASKATOON – Turn the page. That’s what the president and CEO of Canadian National Railway said he hopes the federal government will do as the company faces fines under the Fair Rail Act for failing to move enough grain.

On Thursday, Claude Mongeau said he only wants to think in the positive and highlighted CN’s response to Saskatchewan’s growth in front of the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce.

“We’re growing in potash, we’re growing in agricultural products, we’re growing in supporting the new energy players in Saskatchewan also all the rest of the manufacturing base,” said Mongeau.

“It’s pretty broad based growth and it’s faster growth than the rest of Canada.”

CN traffic in the province is up 65 per cent since 2009 and its employee base in Saskatchewan is 40 per cent higher than it was five years ago.

Despite the company’s success, federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says he expects CN to “pick up their game” after it failed to comply with an order and move a minimum amount of grain each week.

“Our movement of grain for the first six weeks of the year is 50 per cent up last year and every week was above our previous record, we’re not quite meeting the new order and council but we’re moving records of growth and the system is in balance,” added Mongeau.

The company faces fines of up to $100,000 a week after failing to move a weekly minimum of more than 536,000 tonnes or approximately 5,000 rail cars.

It’s a requirement made by the government to help alleviate shipping bottlenecks following last year’s record harvest.

“I would hope that the Canadian government as it does its careful review of the facts will come to recognize that the news is the system is back in balance,” said Mongeau.

“I would hope that they recognize that and turn the page and focus on the positive that’s my most sincere hope.”

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Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. is also required to move a minimum amount of grain each week and has had no problems so far.