OTTAWA—A severe shortage of rail cars has left millions of tonnes of in-demand grain trapped across Western Canada and farmers warn that billions of dollars in economic activity could be lost unless the government acts soon. Representatives of the agriculture industry were in Ottawa on Thursday pressuring legislators to provide relief to grain farmers unable to access the money they need for the coming growing season. A lack of rail capacity means producers can’t transport last year’s crop to market to pay off that season’s input loans, they say. The transport minister has repeatedly refused to split the bill’s sections in order to let the rail provisions pass more quickly. The report pegged Canadian National’s performance over that period at 17 per cent — marking a sixth consecutive week of declines.

Source: thestar March 01, 2018 22:41 UTC