Saskatchewan - Grain is moving well now, but that does not mean the contentious rail transportation issue has been permanently addressed.
 
Oil and potash movement by rail is down about 15 percent due to the fall in commodity prices.
 
That is giving the railways additional capacity to haul grain to port.
 
However, the president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) is concerned about last week's announcement by Canadian Pacific (CP) that it plans to slash another 1,000 jobs this year to improve the bottom line.
 
Norm Hall worries the move is short-sighted and may catch up with CP in the future when commodity prices rebound from the current depressed levels.
 
"As these start coming back, it will take more capacity. With another 1,000 employees gone, they will be short of manpower and horsepower. It takes 12, 18, or 24 months to ramp up to that level again. Who is going to be sitting back and holding the grain? It will be the producers, so this is something we should be very wary of."
 
Hall says there are lessons to be learned from the recent past when the railways did not have enough capacity to service all of their customers in a timely manner.
 
"This keeps repeating itself. Grain moves well when other commodities aren't moving. Then once those commodities move, grain doesn't move well again. So, right now grain is moving well and other commodities aren't. Their (oil and potash) time will come again. Unless this Canadian Transportation Act review changes things dramatically, we are going to be in that same boat some time in the future."
 
The CTA review panel submitted its report to the federal government in December.
 
Hall says the transport minister has 30 sitting days in Parliament to make the report public.
 
Neil Billinger.