MINISTERS CALL FOR INQUIRY INTO GRAIN CRISIS

Released on March 12, 1997

Highways and Transportation Minister Andy Renaud said today he is
pleased with the outcome of a meeting with his counterparts in British
Columbia and Manitoba.

The Ministers met this morning via conference call and agreed to call
upon the federal government to direct the Canadian Transportation
Agency to hold an inquiry into the backlog in grain movements, as
authorized under Section 49 of the Canada Transportation Act.

"The backlog in the grain handling and transportation system is costing
prairie producers an estimated $65 million in lost revenues," Renaud
said. "We are calling upon David Anderson, the federal minister of
transport, to get to the bottom of this issue. It is imperative that
the real causes of this failure in the system are identified and
addressed so that similar crises are avoided in the future."

Renaud had earlier called on the federal government to compensate
prairie producers for their losses caused by the poor performance of
the grain handling and transportation system.

"Saskatchewan producers have a reputation for meeting their global
customers' demands for high quality grain," Renaud said. "Their
reputation is being jeopardized and on top of that, they simply cannot
afford to be paying for the non-performance of Canada's grain handling
and transportation system. Agriculture is a risky enough business,
with unpredictable weather and large swings in global market prices."

Producers on branchlines are being hardest hit as they will have to
incur the additional costs of trucking their grain from branchlines to
mainlines. Saskatchewan taxpayers will also be picking up the tab for
additional road damage as grain starts moving again on the branchlines
when the roads are soft and susceptible to damage. These costs are
over and above the estimated $65 million loss to producers.

"I urge Mr. Anderson to act quickly to identify the problems in the
grain handling and transportation system and to ensure that solutions
are in place before next winter," Renaud said.


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For more information, contact:

Bernie Churko
Highways and Transportation
Regina
Phone: (306) 787-4866