Wheat board could have helped move grain, NDP MP Pat Martin says

His exact words were.."the Fu**in wheatboard could have helped move the Fu**in grain."
He got Twitter sanitized.

And he's fucking right, too.

Next up, the Refuckacons cut program spending for child molesters out after their sentences. Programs that had good success in reducing recidivism and were copied by other countries. You go girls.

Just reading the link, the farmers are blaming the railroads, and the railroads are moving more, but are blaming ports that won't work round the clock.

I'm not sure what the Wheat Board would have been able to do. Can they make the weather warmer, or longshoremen work faster/longer/more?

The railroads were not moving more, because they had to run shorter trains because of the severe cold.

The wheat board would have locked up the required cars, many of which have been diverted to moving oil. It would have seen that that there's a bumper crop and made sure the cars were there - now there's nobody to co-ordinate that. It's a wild west show now. And the wheatboard had pull with the govt to order the rail monoply (effectively) to divert more cars to shipping grain.

It has absolutely nothing to do with trains moving oil - that is less than 5% of the cars moving freight these days. Even if it was a factor, the cars that carry oil most certainly do NOT carry wheat, so it wouldn't impact that one iota.

It has absolutely nothing to do with trains moving oil - that is less than 5% of the cars moving freight these days. Even if it was a factor, the cars that carry oil most certainly do NOT carry wheat, so it wouldn't impact that one iota.

The wheat board had the ability to schedule grain shipments. CN and CP cut their work forces, and with the cold weather they have to run shorter trains. If there were more crews to run more locomotives, the grain would be shipped - just like every other year! A train pulling oil (record shipments by rail) cannot pull grain, so yes - a train moving oil cannot move wheat.

Because CN and CP aren't moving grain, we are losing long term customers of our grains, and some mills in the US are down to a few days worth of things like oats and wheat. And they are looking at Russia as a supplier, because we can't do it!

Loss of the Wheat board means there are no cars coming to empty the elevators, and farmers only got partly paid when they delivered to the elevator. So farmers have grain in their silos, and now they would normally be relying on that initial payment to fund seed and fuel for the spring crops. Money that isn't coming.

Canada's Economic Action Plan!�

Over the last several decades, the railroads have ripped up their double track in favour of single. They've essentially burned the furniture to generate a dividend for their shareholders. They are able to handle average demand, not the peaks and if you have a bumper crop of everything, as they did last year, they don't have the capacity to handle the surge.

fixed to reflect reality

My brother is a car man with CP rail and says there's been record amounts of train cars and locomotives taken out of service because of repair orders to them this winter. Changing wheels seems to be the most common thing. All due to ripping cold weather which has also damaged tracks which shut down any east west traffic. My Sunday morning hockey is made up of 60% CP Rail guys and that's all I've heard since December. Train drivers say the same thing....everything just breaks when it's that cold. So just because someone demanded more cars there would have been little chance of anything changing. Also the new CP boss appears to be somewhat ruthless and shipping more would generate revenue for them, so the incentive is on the side of CP and CN to ship all they can. Customers shipping fuels and propane are also pissed at the railroads for just the same thing and the old wheat board would be in the same boat.

imagine, a politician flapping his gums about something he absolutely nothing about, and didn`t take the time to find out all the details.... ....I`m shocked frankly

The wheat board's only mission was to increase returns to the farmer any way they could. They organised moving that grain from the prairie to the boats.
What you have now, is a bunch of different private enterprises whose sole mission is to increase revenue for themselves. One way they can do this is by funneling as much grain as they can through the ports that they own. Not necessarily the ports that are closest to the grain they've just purchased.
I posted about this before the wheatboard was dismantled. Farmers were in the news talking about it. The only person surprised by this is Gerry Ritz. A failed farmer, now a failed ag minister.
The wheat board would have had the same obstacles, but it would not have been in the same boat.

Just wish some of that political hot air would warm things up. Since November 26 we have only had 2 days where the temp was above freezing, January 12th and 13th with a max high of 2.1C. And if Environment Canada is correct, we won't see a plus temperature till March 10th. First winter in 15 years that I haven't gone south and this is the shit I get.

Hang on to your hat because even when it gets to the elevators, shipping will be delayed for grain going east. Lake Superior has some extremely thick ice and from what they are saying now is that the ice breakers will need to clear paths for the ships instead of just breaking it up and letting the wind push it out. Thunder Bay harbour has measured 4' thick of ice. One of the coldest winters on record (81-82) only had 32"-34" of ice.