Re: April 8, 2021, Op-ed by Robin Silvester — “Port of Vancouver serves producers”
The six member companies of the Western Grain Elevators Association (Cargill, G3, Paterson GlobalFoods, Parrish & Heimbecker, Richardson International and Viterra) ship over 90 percent of Canada’s bulk grain exports. These companies, alongside tens of thousands of farmer customers, are responsible for the impressive results and investments in the Port of Vancouver quoted in this article.
Canada’s grain sector continues to be extremely frustrated with the lack of information-sharing that its landlord, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, continues to demonstrate.
The industry has requested appropriate accountability of the port, not only with respect to funds already extracted from industry for infrastructure projects completed, but transparency on requested industry contributions for additional projects currently in progress to ensure fairness for industry participants.
It is important to note that, although the port manages these infrastructure projects, 90 percent of the port’s contributions are paid for by port tenants.
Instead of responding favourably to the WGEA’s and tenants’ direct requests for transparency, it chooses to speak around the industry through podcasts and news outlets like The Western Producer. This is one example on a long list of port-related issues that concerns the WGEA members, and why we are advocating for change to port governance.
Wade Sobkowich, executive director
Western Grain Elevator Association
This article originally titled Port of Vancouver tenants frustrated written by Wade Sobkowich was originally published in the Western Producer on April 22, 2021.
