Canada's Associate Shadow Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food said, Bill C-49 isn't perfect.

Foothills M.P., John Barlow, said the Bill, also known as the Transportation Modernization Act, received Royal Assent last Wednesday, about one year after being introduced into the House of Commons.

He said, the two amendments the Senate pushed for in the Bill were in regards to having long-haul interswitching in Atlantic Canada, and to allow the Canadian Transportation Agency to investigate rail service issues without first receiving a formal complaint from a shipper and going to the Transport Minister.

Those amendments weren't included in the legislation.

Barlow added, the Bill still includes own-motion power for the Transportation Agency, but it can't act on it's own without Transport Minister, Marc Garneau.

"The Minister has to say, yes there is an issue, you can take action, and the Minister would say what kind of action they could take. So really, there's no accountability there, there's no authority for the transportation agency to take definitive action on it's own. It's going to be up to the Minister, and that's really no own-motion power if you have to go the Minister first."

Barlow said, this could cause some problems as the Transport Minister didn't do anything to address the grain backlog crisis earlier this year.

He added, in conversation with their Senators, the Senate felt they did all the could do, and it was time to move on by passing Bill C-49.

"The concern that we have, is that if we do have another strong harvest this fall, we don't feel the provisions in the Bill will hold the rail lines to account," Barlow said. "But we'll see what happens."

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