Finance committee  I would say that it is reasonable in a free market, but the railways have a franchise where, as you said, there are incredible barriers to entry. In fact, you could not make a railway today as you did. Most of the rail that is used today was put down in the 1920s, so there hasn't been a massive increase in the amount of track.

Finance committee  Exactly. They get a freebie up front.

Finance committee  That's almost impossible to quantify, but currently there are many issues with container delivery or lack of delivery to be more precise. As Greg pointed out, the problem with the supply chain in Canada with rail is that the railway dictates when they deliver and when they pick up.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. We are absolutely supportive of extended interswitching in the act. In fact, we would like it to go further, as Greg pointed out. Perhaps that's a longer distance, but certainly for a longer period of time because 18 months is not enough time to actually gauge if the program is going to be successful.

Finance committee  As Greg says, we currently have regulated interswitching at a very small distance, 30 kilometres. Greg's suggestion of 500 kilometres or what the government is proposing, 160 kilometres, would allow regulated interswitching to be more available to shippers. Also, it gives the opportunity for a shipper to use interswitching as leverage to get a better price with a competing...with this host railway.

Finance committee  Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you to the committee for allowing me to come here tonight to speak to you. My name is John Corey. I'm the president of the Freight Management Association of Canada, as well as the chair of the Coalition of Rail Shippers. The Freight Management Association advocates on behalf of freight purchasers: rail, marine, air and trucking.