Members of the All-Party Standing Committee on Agriculture held an emergency meeting yesterday on the current grain backlog situation.

Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, Vice-President of Alberta, Stephen Vandervalk says farmers are frustrated with the rail service they’ve been getting; noting it’s nothing knew which makes it even more frustrating.

"They want to have monopolies then they have to certain excess capacities and meet all this demand," he said. "If they don't, they need to start looking at running right and having competitions come on the railings."

He notes a short-term fix would be to see Government legislation like we did a few years ago, where Railways were forced to run a certain amount of grain cars each week.

Vandervalk says rather than send a letter asking for action; it’s time for the Federal Government put in emergency legislation to force the railways to take action:

"In a crisis, you just send a letter off asking them how they're going to fix things," he said. "No, you basically have to force them into it. This isn't anything new, so they know the routine, and this is something that they really need to legislate and force them into hauling agricultural products."

He notes the railways are using the same excuses they did back in 2013-14; a larger than expected crop, not enough engine power, not enough staff and a cold winter.