Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
June 3, 2008
The
Western Grains Research
Foundation (WGRF) is being asked to repay $128,468.47 to
Canadian National Railway (CN). This amount is broken down as
$116,900 for the reduced revenue cap overage, $5,845
reimbursement of the 5% penalty initially collected and
$5,723.47 for CN's share of the interest earned since the appeal
was made.
In January 2007 the WGRF received notification from CN of the
railways plan to appeal the grain revenue cap ruling from the
2005-06 crop year. In the initial ruling, CTA found that CN
exceeded the grain revenue cap by approximately $2.7 million. CN
disputed this determination saying that is was $522,383 too
high, and felt it should be adjusted based on calculations used
to determine the Intermodal P&D and Demurrage overages.
In early 2007 when the CN told WGRF of their intensions to
appeal the ruling, the appealed amount was placed in a trust
account until a further ruling was made by the CTA.
"This matter has been outstanding for quite some time," says
Amanda Soulodre, communications manager at the WGRF. "We are
happy that a decision has been reached and that the balance of
the funds can now be invested into research that benefits
farmers across Western Canada."
Under the Canada Transportation Act, when the railways exceed
their grain revenue cap, the excess plus a five per cent penalty
is paid to the Endowment Fund of the Western Grains Research
Foundation. The Fund generates about $400,000 a year in interest
and this is used to fund crop research across all crop types for
the benefit of grain producers in Western Canada.
Losing these funds from the CN appeal will mean the loss of
about $6,137 in interest per year. Over five years that
translates into a one-year research project not being able to be
funded.
An example of the projects that were funded this year through
the Endowment Fund include:
. Fingerprinting the DNA of
spring and winter wheat to help reduce the requirement for
KVD
. The genetics of early maturity in Canadian spring wheat
. Designer wheat development for the biofuels industry
. Coordinating monitoring, forecasting and early risk
warning systems for insect pests
Each of these projects are three
years in duration. The over 200 projects that have been
supported through WGRF's Endowment Fund over the years can be
found at
www.westerngrains.com.
Producers representing a broad cross-section of farm
organizations serve on the 16-member Board that guides WGRF. |
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