Ottawa Ontario - Liberal members of parliament on Wednesday rejected an Opposition motion aimed at easing a months-long backlog in grain shipments, saying it is too soon for Ottawa to impose stiff quotas on rail companies.
 
The Opposition motion came as part of an emergency meeting by the House agriculture and agri-food committee on Wednesday, called in response to persistent shipping delays.
 
Canadian grain farmers are in some cases months behind on deliveries for wheat, oats, barley, and other contracts, and have been calling on Ottawa to intervene as stockpiles swell.
 
Opposition committee members requested to send a letter to the transport and agriculture ministers urging them to issue an order in council, likely aimed at forcing Canadian rail companies to directly address the backlog.
 
The committee did not agree to follow through with the request.
 
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (CP), and in particular Canadian National Railway Co. (CN), have fallen behind on deliveries this year following an uncommonly cold winter and higher-than expected grain production.
 
The emergency meeting comes as Opposition members have been putting pressure on Ottawa to issue an order in council, as farmers face a shortage of cash flows just weeks ahead of the spring seeding season.
 
Members also warned that municipalities are preparing to impose weight limits on roads in coming weeks that could hamper farmers' ability to transport grain to nearby silos.
 
"Farmers will not be able to haul their grain in the next couple of weeks, it is that critical," said John Barlow, a Conservative committee member who called for the emergency meeting.
 
Separately, however, the committee voted in favour of holding emergency hearings on 19 Mar 2018 aimed at discussing the causes of shipping bottlenecks, which have lingered for months.
 
Representatives with the rail companies and suppliers are expected to attend the hearings.
 
Farmers and business associations have said the bottlenecks are approaching the levels from 2013-2014, when the Harper government issued an order in council to force railways to move minimum volumes of grain.
 
Liberal committee members on Wednesday argued that an order in council should wait until after CN and CP put forward their plans to address the backlogs.
 
Transport Minister Marc Garneau and Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay wrote a joint letter to the railway companies Tuesday, saying they were "disappointed" by the performance of the firms, asking them to publish plans before 15 Mar 2018 detailing how the companies seek to ease the bottleneck.
 
Liberal members said an order in council should not be issued before rail companies are given time to lay out their response plans.
 
They also argued the order would take weeks to get Cabinet approval.
 
"An order in council is not going to get passed by 19 Mar 2018, I can guarantee you that," said Francis Drouin, a Liberal committee member.
 
He instead called on the senate to expedite the passing of Bill C-49, the Transport Modernization Act, which supporters say addresses some of the problems faced by grain farmers and other suppliers.
 
"The House has done their job, now it's up to the Senate to do their job," Drouin said.
 
CN issued an apology for the delays on Tuesday, saying it has leased 130 locomotives to increase capacity and plans to invest more than $250 million this year to build new track and yard capacity in western Canada.
 
"The entire CN team has a sense of urgency and is fully focused on getting it right for farmers and our grain customers, regaining the confidence of Canadian businesses and protecting Canada's reputation as a stable trade partner in world markets," CN interim CEO Jean-Jacques Ruest said in a statement Wednesday.
 
Farmers have said that shipper delays are a recurring problem in Western Canada, particularly in years of high production.
 
"It just feels like every time grain gets left in the dust," Daryl Fransoo, director of the Western Canadian Growers Association and owner of a 5,000 acre farm near Glaylyn Saskatchewan, said in a phone interview Tuesday.
 
"Everything else gets prioritized."
 
The last major snag in grain shipments, in 2013-2014, caused the Canadian economy an estimated $8 billion in foregone revenues.
 
Jesse Snyder.