CP Rail wants clarity from feds, provinces
Written by jrood
Ottawa and the provinces need to do a better job of coordinating policy on issues ranging from the environment to tax reform, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.'s top executive said, The Canadian Press reports. Canadian Pacific representatives have spent a lot of time in Ottawa -- not to mention Washington -- making the case for removing "artificial barriers in the form of regulation or legislation," Fred Green told shareholders at the firm's annual general meeting.
"To the extent that we
can find national policies — or arguably national policies tied to our
counterparts in the States — that’s a whole lot better than it is to have these
regional policies emerging," Green later told reporters.
The government has done a
good job on rules for pension solvency deficit funding and fostering stronger
trade relations with Asian economies. But Canadian Pacific would like to see Ottawa
and the provinces co-operate more on environmental, securities and tax policy.
"Federal and
provincial governments need to work effectively together to ensure there is
clarity and consistency on environmental issues, cap and trade, securities
legislation and tax reform," Green told shareholders.
"Having federal and
provincial governments issuing independent and inconsistent policies is harmful
to Canada’s productivity and the entire supply chain. We will continue to
advocate the need to harmonize on policies like GHG emissions and biofuel
standards."
Railways are often
considered a bellwether for the health of the wider economy. The volume of
goods — anything from grains to coal to cars — Canadian Pacific ships across
the continent offers clues about which industries are doing well, and which are
lagging.
Anything that moves to Asia
through the Port of Vancouver, like metallurgical coal and fertilizer, has been
doing well recently, Green told reporters. But he said he’s still wary of how
steady the recovery will be.
"Based on what you’ve
seen in the stock market, the European crisis, it’s the unpredictability that I
worry about," he said.
"The underlying
domestic economy is pretty much what I thought it would be. Housing starts have
not improved dramatically. Automobile sales have not improved dramatically,
certainly relative to historical levels."
