The organization representing the companies that own Canada’s transmission pipelines says a government-led spill response protocol in British Columbia is not “necessary or optimum,” according to newly released documents.

The documents—which give insight into discussion with the public and big players in the pipeline industry as the Ministry of Environment develops a new land spill response protocol—were obtained through a request under the B.C. Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

In a report presented to B.C.’s Ministry of Environment last March, the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association said that while it supports the “world leading” spill response protocol the provincial government plans to implement, the spill response measures should be voluntary and allow for “industry discretion” in determining response to spills.

The Association says the existing spill protocols enforced by the National Energy Board and B.C. Oil and Gas Commission already regulate the industry heavily.

“If you see the B.C. (Oil and Gas Commission) as a government-led organization, then we’re fully in support of that,” said Kai Horsfield, a research coordinator at the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association. “But we don’t believe the Ministry of Environment has the capacity or the need to duplicate that regulation.”

B.C.’s Ministry of Environment says there’s recognition that a new spill response regime could mean multiple regulatory bodies asking for the same things.

“We want to avoid unnecessary duplication,” said David Karn, spokesperson for the B.C. Ministry of Environment. “And we continue to have respectful discussions with stakeholders.”

But the Ministry of Environment says it is crucial spill regulation is in their hands.

“The B.C. Ministry of Environment is the lead provincial agency for all spills affecting the province regardless of industry sector or source,” said Karn. “The majority of issues associated with a spill are environmental in nature and therefore the B.C. Ministry of Environment is the most appropriate agency with the relevant staff and expertise to address the environmental impact of spills.”

The Association also said it believes collecting more money to establish a provincial spill response fund is “not required.”

In September of last year, the Ministry of Environment released a report on the comments received from April to July of last year during their public consultation on B.C.’s spill response policies.

“The province has been clear that we need to improve our spill preparedness and response on both land an in the marine environment,” said Karn.

The “vast majority” of the 101 respondents indicated B.C.’s current spill preparedness and response has “significant gaps” or is “not effective at all,” according to the report.

The majority of respondents also indicated “support” or recognized a “need” for a provincially regulated and industry funded spill response organization.

The report indicated the comments from the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association that “a government led or regulated, industry funded spill response organization is neither necessary nor optimum” was part of a “limited number” of respondents not in support of such an organization.

The released documents come in the wake of a toxic fuel spill in Vancouver’s English Bay last month, which has critics and activists saying the province isn’t prepared to handle spills effectively.

In 2012, the Ministry of Environment set out five minimum requirements that must be met before heavy pipelines proposed in B.C. can garner approval.

The Ministry of Environment plans to implement their new spill response protocol in 2016.

What were the documents?

Briefing notes and reports from the B.C. Ministry of Environment regarding the new government-led industry funded land based spill response protocol.

Where did you get them?

B.C. Ministry of Environment

What did they tell you?

That the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association doesn’t want the B.C. government to have a regulatory role in the transmission pipeline industry.

Document Pages (page 12 and 13)

Proof of Informal Requests: 

A plebiscite in Vancouver is underway that would, if passed, fund many new transit projects in the area, but documents show that the provincial government in BC has concerns that may stop the projects from going forward even if the referendum passes.

In a briefing note obtained through access to information laws that described a meeting the Ministry of Transportation held last year, the proposed plan was referred to as ‘unrealistic’ and concerns were brought forward about the province’s ability to pay.

The briefing note said, “The Minister communicated to the mayors and the public that the province had concerns with the Vision, in particular: unrealistic assumptions on the level of senior government funding, short timelines for build out of major capital projects, and use and infrastructure of provincial carbon tax.”

To put it more plainly, the minister was worried that the mayors were asking for too much money from the province and could not get the projects done in the 10 years they specified.

Then as now, the transit projects would cost around $7.5 billion. The mayors asked the province for $1.6 billion of that money.

However, the briefing note also stated tat the amount of money the province could contribute would be less than that, as that money needs to be available for use on a variety of infrastructure projects across the province, not only in the Metro Vancouver area.

The new transit plans were put forward by the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation, made up of representatives of municipalities in the Metro Vancouver Area.

The plans include replacement of the Patullo Bridge, 25 per cent more bus service in the area, and 30 per cent more accessible transit for people with disabilities. There would be new rapid bus lines for the most congested areas of the city, including several new routes that would serve UBC, the University of British Columbia.

(In another briefing note, the government stated that it wanted to time the vote for this March so that UBC students would get a chance to vote on the matter that affects them.)

In the document in which they laid out their vision, the council stressed the need for action. “Our population is growing, but our transit system is not,” they sai>d.

They also said it would require a significant amount of money just to maintain what already exists.

If passed, the plebiscite will allow the mayors’ council to increase municipal taxes by 0.5 per cent in order to fund the new projects. This will come from an increase in the province’s carbon tax and be harmonized with its provincial sales tax.

However, there are still no guarantees that that amount will actually make up for what is needed.

“As with any tax framework there is uncertainty,” said Sonia Lowe, a spokesperson for the transportation ministry, in an emailed statement.

“The BC government has committed to funding one-third of new rapid transit projects in Metro Vancouver and the new Pattullo Bridge, provided they can be accommodated within the provincial fiscal plan and the investments are supported by a strong business case.”

Lowe added that this would require up to a quarter of a million dollars a year for the projected ten years of the transit expansion.

The plebiscite began on March 16th of this year. Metro Vancouver residents can vote until May 29th.

What were the documents?

The document was a briefing note summarizing a meeting the Minister of Transportation of BC had with representatives from the Mayors’ Council.

Where did you get them?

I got them from the BC Ministry of Transportation

What did they tell you?

The transit plebiscite is being covered in the media as though it were a done deal if it passes. This briefing note showed that the province had reservations about the project and that there still may be obstacles to come.

Links to documents and requests:
“Records used”
“My requests”
“Informal requests.”

Responses:
“Responses 1”
“Responses 2”
“Responses 3”
“Responses 4”
“Responses 5”

Foreign tree-planting companies are borrowing thousands of acres of protected farmland in British Colombia for the purpose of selling carbon credits — land which shouldn’t be used for tree-planting at all, according to the Opposition’s spokesperson for Agriculture and Food.

“There’s just so little farmland in this province,” says Paul Sanborn, a professor of ecosystem science at the university of British Colombia.

The mere 5% of provincial land that is considered ‘productive’ is protected by the Agricultural Land Reserve Act and referred to as ALR land.

According to documents received through the access to information act, The Ministry of Agriculture is aware that both foreign and domestic companies are borrowing ALR land to plant trees, a move which is legally legitimate. But there’s concern this will stop the land from being used for its intended purpose — agriculture.

Carbon credits can be earned in B.C. for greenhouse gas reductions and these credits can be sold to help other parties offset their emissions. Tree-planting is generally seen as a viable way of generating these offsets.

“We have tonnes of land everywhere else that needs to be reforested, but turning agricultural land back into forest is going against the nature of the ALR,” says Lana Popham, the Opposition government’s spokesperson for Agriculture and Food.

In order for tree-planting offsets to work, the trees have to get big enough to actually suck carbon out of the air. To sell these offsets, there needs to be a guarantee that the trees won’t be cut down.

According to the Minister’s internal briefing, “Dedicating ALR land for the purpose of environmental conservation is allowed without an application…”

As a result, some companies are putting conservation covenant’s on these lands— a practice which could stop the land from being used for other purposes for up to 100 years.

“If you have these covenants on this protected farmland, essentially what you’re saying is we can’t go back to using this land for agriculture for many, many decades,” says Sanborn

The Ministry says covenants which restrict farming activity on ALR land require approval from the Agricultural Land Commission before they have any effect.

But according to the Minister’s October briefing notes, Borealis Carbon Offsets — an out-of-province tree-planting company — planted trees on 70 hectares of ALR land, and then “placed a covenant on that land”. The group intends to plant more trees in this region of BC “but does not yet have contracts in place”.

With or without the covenants, Popham says ALR land shouldn’t be used for tree-planting.

She’s in the process of creating a private member’s bill which would ensure these carbon-offset programs can’t be done on ALR land.

“It’s going to be a contentious issue, it already is a problem, the complication is that it’ll probably take legislation to in order to change anything,” she says.

The Ministry says the amount of tree-planting on ALR land now is not significant, but according to the briefing, as carbon trading markets gain prominence, more ALR land may be contracted for this purpose— something the briefing says is “of concern”.

Sanborn says these carbon-offset programs have been “swept under the rug” because nobody really envisioned they would happen, and the government will have to play “catch up” to deal with them.

He says he’s pleased to hear that the Ministry is watching the issue, and hopes they’ll do something to address it.

“I think it does require some re-visiting to their policies to either rule it out or make it harder to do,” he says.

“At the end of the day, watching the issue isn’t enough.”

For Jim and Dave:

ATIP Record Used

Proof of Requests

People calling British Columbia’s Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation may have to hold the line.

A heavy caseload has caused major delays to the phone service of the ministry responsible for helping people with disabilities.

Information from a previously released freedom of information report shows caller wait times to the ministry to have almost octupled from 2013 to 2014.

Yes, octupled.

When asked to describe the service provided by the ministry, disabled Vancouver resident Michael Dugger said, “Honestly? It’s a nightmare.”

Dugger was born with corneal dystrophy, a disorder that has left him partially blind. He frequently calls the ministry to discuss his Persons With Disabilities assistance. In January 2013, average wait times were as low as four minutes. Wait times then skyrocketed to 34 minutes by December 2014.

The numbers were tracked by the ministry after an audit was done in May, 2014. The deputy auditor general, Russ Jones, told that the ministry that they needed to improve its data collection. The audit also showed that there were major barriers to accessibility of the ministry’s disability assistance services.

The increase in average waiting times was due to a rise in the number of callers, said Patricia Boyle, assistant to the department’s deputy minister

According to Boyle there were 13 times more calls to the ministry in 2014 than in 2013. Boyle also said that the most recent data shows a large improvement as of January 2015.

The ministry also implemented a “call-back” option, so that callers will not have to wait on the phone. Boyle said wait times have gone down to about 10 minutes and dropped as low as seven minutes last week. She provided no data to confirm this and this is not what Dugger experienced.

Dugger called the ministry on March 18. He said he waited half an hour before the ministry told him that they would call him back in yet another hour. He said that this happens frequently.

“A couple of times they just hung up on me and said I was calling them too much,” he said.

Dugger lives day to day on social funding from the government. He claimed that he has had missed rent often on account of not having received his cheque on time.

“They can’t just keep treating me this way.”

When told how Dugger had been purposefully disconnected on several occasions and then asked why this would be, Boyle said she had never heard of any such incident.

But Dugger is not the only client to be “disconnected” while on the phone with a ministry representative.

In a recent committee meeting, the MLA of Nelson- Creston the Michelle Mungal, asked the minister of Social Development and Social Innovation for reports of clients who had been hung up on after waiting 11 minutes on the phone.

The government created My Self Serve to improve wait times. The online service allows people seeking to review their assistance to connect with the ministry instantaneously. The service also allows people to access the ministry round the clock.

Three years ago Dugger was diagnosed with glaucoma, hampering his ability to see the website.

“I’m losing my eyesight. So that’s no good for me” Dugger said. “And I don’t have time to just be waiting on the phone. I have other problems.”

By: Hayley Chazan

Senior government officials warned B.C.’s Minister of Education, Peter Fassbender, that a prolonged teachers’ strike could negatively affect international education in the kindergarten to grade 12 sector for several years.

A summer 2014 briefing note to the Minister and Deputy Minister of Education obtained through a freedom of information request, cautioned that a teachers’ strike would damage B.C.’s international education reputation and hinder the province’s future ability to recruit international students.  Bureaucrats also warned of international students withdrawing from fall 2014 programs, resulting in millions of dollars of lost revenue for public school districts.

The labour dispute between B.C. teachers and the provincial government began nearly a year ago, when teachers voted to walk off the job.

The strike began at the end of April 2014.  A deal was reached on Sept. 18 after students missed the first three weeks of the school year.

While the strike put a strain on the entire education system, international students who had planned to begin their studies in B.C. in the fall of 2014 faced particular difficulties.

According to 2013/2014 provincial data, there were just over 14,000 international students in the province of B.C.

B.C. attracts international students from all over the world and parents pay between $10,000 and $15,000 per year to send their children to public schools in the province.

International students who enrolled for the fall 2014 school year had no choice but to ride out the strike and wait for classes to resume, said Randall Martin, Executive Director of the B.C. Council for International Education, the province’s crown agency responsible for international education.

Ministry of Education spokesman Scott Sutherland admitted that the labour disruption was challenging, but noted that the K-12 sector has actually seen a 20 per cent increase in international student enrolment in 2014/2015 compared to the previous year.

“We are pleased to see that districts reported no decline in international student enrolment this fall,” he said.  “We have earned our reputation by proving to be a reliable and diverse destination for international students – something we continue to work diligently on.”

Cindy Anderson, a spokesman for the Delta School District said that despite the strike, the 2014/2015 school year did not show an abnormal number of student withdrawals from previous years.

Because the strike ended after the third week of school, only a small proportion of international education programming was affected, said Glen Hansman, 1^st Vice President of the BC Teachers’ Federation.  Hansman said that the bigger problem facing the international student community is what he calls chronic government underfunding of education in the province.

Charles Ungerleider, director of research at Directions Evidence and Policy Research Group, an education policy think tank in Vancouver, said that now that the labour dispute is resolved and a contract is in place, he believes that international parents won’t hesitate to seek opportunities for their children in B.C.’s public schools, as they are among the best in the world.

Despite the government’s assurances that B.C’s international education reputation is intact, Martin acknowledged that the strike might dissuade a small number of future students from applying to international education programs in B.C, though he said that it’s hard to say for sure.

Although the province’s international education reputation remained intact in the aftermath of the strike, Laura Schwertfeger, district principal of the International Student Department at the Sooke School District on Vancouver Island said she is keen to avoid a repeat of what happened in 2014.

“I think that all agents and school districts are carefully examining their paperwork to make sure that we are well-prepared should something like this happen again.”

—————————————————————————————————————————————-Assignment Components:

1) Original requests

• Federal
• Provincial
• Municipal

2) Informal requests

3) Freedom of information request used to write this story – two-page excerpt

4)  I used two particularly relevant pages of information obtained through a freedom of information request in order to write this story.

The information is a briefing note on international education in 2014 in the province of British Columbia that was prepared for B.C. Minister of Education, Peter Fassbender, in advance of the Ministry Estimates debate in the spring 2014 sitting of the B.C. legislature. The briefing note was subsequently used as part of the binder used to brief incoming Deputy Minister of Education, Dave Byng, after he was appointed in July 2014.  The note was updated continuously throughout the summer of 2014.

The briefing note is from B.C.’s provincial government.  It comes from the Ministry of Education.

The information was helpful because it explained, in part, the B.C.’s government International Education Strategy.  The briefing note also provided an overview of how the international education program in B.C. works.  This was crucial in order to understand how international education programs were affected by the 2014 teachers’ strike.

The information in the briefing note on which I based my story was on page two, bullet point three.  This information was important because it showed that senior officials warned both the Minister and Deputy Minister of Education about the ramifications a prolonged strike could have on international education in the province.  This part of the briefing note was the basis of my story and allowed me to reach out to school districts, government officials and B.C. teachers in order to find out if any of the government’s worst fears had actually materialized.

Child and youth mental illness is on the rise in B.C.. A $100,000 funding denial by a non-profit to the Ministry of Children and Family Development to serve families of children and youth suffering with mental illness raises questions about the government’s capacity and commitment to improve access.

The non-profit, Families Organized for Recognition and Care Equality provides education and resources for families helping children struggling with mental illness. The organization warned the Ministry of Children and Family Development and the Ministry that the funding denial could impact children and youth suffering from mental illness in spring 2015, documents obtained through access-to-information reveal.

The B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development reacted to the warnings in co-ordination with the Ministry of Health. They promised to continue to increase family support, system efficiency and streamline programming, said Nicole Beneteau Public Affairs Officer B.C. Ministry of Health.

Streamlining programs will mean doing more with less.

“The bureaucracy certainly does want to improve services,” said Stephanie Stevenson.

Stevenson was a former board member of Families Organized for Recognition and Care Equality. Stevenson is currently the B.C. Pediatric Society executive director.

Although the optics surrounding the funding denial are bad, the request denial was not based on a lack of will—but simply a lack of funds. The Ministry of Children and Family Development invests approximately $93 million per year to address child and youth mental health and substance use challenges–but it is not enough.

“As far as we know the Families Organized for Recognition and Care Equality’s programming will not be impacted,” said the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

The Ministry did not cut funds, but could not keep up with the  Families Organized for Recognition and Care Equality program expansion.

The number of children and youth who received mental health services in B.C. has nearly doubled to 29,000 in the last ten years according the Ministry of Health.

“It’s an interesting situation. The government’s view is that we don’t have any more money to put in child and youth mental health. So, what are we going to do? We can’t sit where we are,” said Stevenson.

When Stevenson tried to refer an eight-year-old with anxiety so bad they could not attend school, to the Ministry of Children and Family Development she was told that there was an eight-month wait.

“There are huge gaps in the system,” said Ann Marie Henderson, a B.C. social worker of two decades located in Prince George. “It is the kids that fall through the cracks.”

“There are funding shortfalls for services to children and families across the boards in nearly every country in the world and every province in Canada,” said Jessica Ball.

Ball is a professor at the University of Victoria’s School of Child and Youth Care. She recognizes how complex the issues of child mental health is and like Henderson acknowledge that funding is a real barrier.

Keli Anderson, the co-founder of the Families Organized for Recognition and Care Equality could not be reached for comment.

Supporting Documents:

ATIP Requests

Healthy Minds, Healthy People Ministry of Children and Family Development Ten-Year Plan

1) Provides the outline of the ten year plan of the Ministry to tackle the mental health issues, including that of children and Youth.

2) This is the provincial level document.

3) This information spoke to issues of access and the types of barriers confirmed by academics and social workers in the field. It is evidence the government may be understating the problem of child and youth mental health issues in B.C.. I tried to get an interview with Charlotte Waddel from Simon Fraser University who conducted the studies that informed the Ministry of Children and Family Development Policy–she unfortunately wasn’t available until Thursday March 26, 2015.

Still Waiting:First Hand Experiences with Youth Mental Health Services B.C.

1) This is a study of experiences with Children and Youth Mental Health done by the Children’s Representative in B.C.. The information highlighted gaps in funding and recommendations that more attention needs to be placed on access and reduction of wait times.

2) This information comes from the B.C. Representative for Children and Youth.

3) This information gave me important information to go off of. I also tried to get an interview with Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond the Representative for Children and Youth in B.C., she was not available to give comment. However, the information within the report made it helpful to get further information from social workers and academics. It also confirmed the wait times are a problem and so are limitations on funding.

Through trial and error, British Columbia is slowly filling the gaps in financial assistance for homeowners seeking to make their homes more energy efficient.

Back in November 2014, a pilot project was launched in the city of Colwood and the district of Okanagan-Similkameen. The idea was to allow people to apply for home renovation loans and then pay them off gradually on their utility bills.

According to an Access to Information request, there were plans to expand the project to Vancouver Island in January 2014, but it never made it off the ground. Between BC Hydro and Fortis BC, the two main utility companies in British Columbia, there was a consensus that the project was not worth the effort.

“There was very, very small participation — the cost of setting it up and marketing it ­— well it was just a very expensive program,” said Carol Suhan, manager of the Power Sense services for Fortis BC Inc.

The program was shut down when the lack of interest could no longer justify the funding for it. In all of Colwood only two loans were given out. In Okanagan they gave out six.

“We’ve seen examples in other jurisdictions where it’s worked out, such as in the United States, and that’s where the idea came from,” said Les MacLaren, assistant deputy minister of the electricity and alternative energy division for the government of British Columbia.

He explained that part of the problem was that in British Columbia energy costs are very low.

“Most folks who make retro-fit improvements to their homes, from the demographic research, tend to be middle aged and in the middle to upper level of income,” explained Suhan.

She also said that most of the people who choose to do retro-fitting for their homes do not need the project’s financial help. The terms of the loans had an interest rate of 4 to 4.5 per cent over 5 to 10 years.

“For those folks it just wasn’t an attractive rate,” said Suhan.

With interest rates dropping, most people turned to their banks for better interest loans. Utility companies still needed to provide an incentive for them to seek out retrofitting.

“Fortis BC Power Sense has been very progressive in letting people know what options they have,” said Jim Damberger, owner of the company Canadian Aerothermal.

To encourage energy efficiency in British Columbia households, BC Hydro and Fortis BC have been promoting the Home Energy Rebate Offer program.

“People have electric heating in their homes which is a very expensive type of heating,” said Damberger.

He said that in rural areas of British Columbia most old houses didn’t have other options. With new available technologies, people need to be made aware of the benefits in retrofitting their homes.

Damberger’s company installs aero-thermal heating to heat and cool a home with heat pumps. As one of the contractors involved with the pilot project he says that retro-fitting homes to be more energy efficient is a long-term investment.

“Aero-thermal heating would generally cut 60 to 70 per cent of the cost to heat a home,” said Damberger.

The pilot project was a learning experience for those involved. There are now more options for homeowners in British Columbia, both for lower and middle income ranges.

The Energy Conservation Assistance Program, also known as ECAP, has been around for 7 years. Up until 2014 the elegibility for ECAP had been very strict but utility companies advocated the Ministry of Energy and Mines to have the eligibility definitions expanded. They now include aboriginals and people receiving social assistance.

“I’m sure there are still many households that would have financial difficulty to retro-fit their homes, but that number has diminished significantly,” said Suhan.

Documents from ATIP Request Page 1, Page 2, Page 3

What is the information?

This is background information about the On-Bill Financing pilot program that was cancelled for January 2014.

From which department and level of government did you obtain these pages?

This is from the provincial government of British Columbia for the Ministry of Energy and Mines. 

Why was this information helpful?

There was a briefing note provided to the Minister Bill Bennett which clearly outlined the issues with the project and the suggestions for how to move forward with its shutdown.

Formal Requests:

Federal Level

Provincial Level

Municipal Level

Informal Requests

For David Newman, moving his grain from Saanich in British Columbia to other parts of Canada has become a nightmare.

The grain industry in Canada was hit by massive backlogs of delays resulting in a loss for the farmers. Newman thought the situation would improve but “it has become so bad, we have to change our business models,” he said.
According to documents obtained under an Access to information request, B.C agriculture ministry said the situation had improved reducing railgrain shipment backlogs but Newman disagrees.
“They do not pass our routes as frequently as they do,” he Newman said. He said their profit margins have reduced from 75 per cent last year to 40 per cent. Newman, who is also president of Commodius farms said small farmers like him were being shortchanged.

Spokesperson for B.C’s agriculture ministry Robert Boelens in an email said “Rail lines in B.C. and throughout Canada are held to Bill C-30 and regulations which has improved the grain movement throughout Canada.”

President of B.C Grain Producers Association Robert VanderLinden said “already, most grain producers are two months behind schedule and this is not good for us.” He said last year a lot of the members lost contracts and the association was promised the situation would change this year but “there is little improvement.” Most of the blame was laid at the doorstep of Canada Rail. Phone calls and emails to Canada Rail were not returned.

According to information provided the animal nutrition association of Canada, the BC Grain producers’ association and some farmer associations signed a memorandum of understanding to provide a “made in BC” proposal to move grain from Northern BC to Southern BC. Bob Dornan secretary treasurer of the animal nutrition association of Canada said “that plan was to get attention to the plight of the farmers.” “It didn’t work.” He said he did not sign the document but heard of it. VanderLinden said he knew of the MOU but was not signatory to it.
Shaun Grant, managing director of the South Peace Cleaning Coop, said most of the farmers signed the MOU because “they were fed up with the system.” According to access to information documents, Grant’s organization which is a cooperative of more than 100 farmers is received money from government funded Peace River Agriculture Development fund to draw a proposal to create an alternate rail access to move grain from the area for shipment. Only farmers producing within 100 miles radius of Dawson Creek will benefit from the project. Grant said, “It will be hard to benefit every farmer but most farmers will benefit.”
The business plan for the project will be ready next week and the project will commence later this year pending approval from the BC government. Grant said the project will see grain being transported to the port of Prince Rupert which has less congestion and they have plans of exporting to China and India. “It is more of a marketing plan to export outside Canada,” he said. Grant said only feed grains for a few companies in the Canadian market will be served under the project.
Newman said this is just a means for a few people to enrich themselves to the detriment of the poor farmer. “They will do everything for the big cooperatives to ship outside Canada,” he said. “They don’t care about those of us producing for the local market.”
For Newman and other farmers, they can only hope for frequent transport of their grain by Canada Rail and hope that the next alternative will be to cart more grain for local consumption than for export. Even with that, he can only hope he falls within the mileage of beneficiaries.

Documents

ATIP response from BC’s ministry

Response document

Response document

Response document

Document

Access request document