Prospective railway owner worried dispute threatens sale
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/10/2017 (2372 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA — A blizzard hit the town of Churchill on Wednesday, as one of the Hudson Bay Railway’s (HBR) prospective owners lamented an intensifying storm of accusations between Omnitrax and Ottawa.
Last Friday, the federal government gave Denver-based Omnitrax until Nov. 12 to repair the flood-damaged transportation link and resume rail service to the northern Manitoba town, or face an $18.8-million lawsuit over breach of contract. That prompted a tell-all screed by Omnitrax’s Canadian head, Merv Tweed, who alleged bureaucratic ineptness on the part of Ottawa.
On Wednesday, Arlen Dumas, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said he’s worried the legal threat could jeopardize the purchase of the port and rail line by a consortium Ottawa had arranged.
For more than a year, Dumas has tried to get the rail line and port into First Nations hands, and he joined forces with communities along the line this summer. He said he believed those efforts were nearing completion a month ago, until Friday’s legal threat.
“We are extremely frustrated in what is happening,” Dumas told reporters in Winnipeg. “Our allies, who claimed to be helping us along the way, have, in effect, very recently degraded our efforts. In essence, they have struck a bell that is going to force the communities to have a sense of hopelessness.”
He panned the province’s $6-million emergency shipment of propane for winter heating and Via Rail’s decision to ship out its stranded, rusting rail cars, which were loaded Tuesday and should depart today after the blizzard clears.
Dumas refused to share any details about the transfer talks, other than to say they have met all the concessions that have been asked of them.
Meanwhile, Transport Canada pushed back Wednesday on criticisms it rebuffed a last-minute effort to pay $5 million to $10 million for an interim repair for the line. Omnitrax presented the offer Oct. 6.
Some have contrasted that amount with the province’s $6-million propane shipment. But the federal agency said such a comparison is a distraction, and HBR owner Omnitrax should have footed the bill.
“They do not require the permission, regulatory authority, nor the recommendation of Transport Canada to repair the rail line,” wrote spokeswoman Sofie McCoy-Astell, noting the agency would only oversee such operations to make sure they fit safety requirements.
But the company’s chief commercial officer, Peter Touesnard, scoffed at paying to fix the line.
“Since acquiring the railway in 1997, we’ve invested over $100 million with no return. We have no intention of investing any further,” he wrote, saying the company said as much in June. “We have continued to be very clear and consistent on this position since that time.”
Neither Omnitrax nor Ottawa would make staff available for interviews Wednesday.
Touesnard also pushed back on claims the rail line sat on shoddy railbed, saying such a problem would have been raised in AECOM’s engineering reports.
Experts have said photos of washed-out track show muddy ground and rocks seemingly placed on top, rather than ballast rock pieces that interlock over permafrost to keep the line stable.
“We unequivocally reject any implication that work done on the line up until this catastrophe wasn’t quality work,” Touesnard wrote. “That suggestion is not only false, but an insult to our employees who have worked tirelessly over the years to ensure service to the people of northern Manitoba in extremely challenging environmental circumstances.”
Transport Canada said it had inspected the part of the line that washed out “five times between 2012 and 2016” for safety and standards. It said railways are responsible under federal law to inspect their equipment and maintain operations.
The agency also said Omnitrax wasn’t truthful in saying it invited the feds to inspect the line.
“Transport Canada received no request from Omnitrax to view the damage of its Hudson Bay Railway line first-hand,” McCoy-Astell wrote. Omnitrax doubled down, saying the invite was communicated by its chief operating officer, Sergio Sabatini, at a June 16 meeting in Winnipeg, with the company’s vice-president for business development, Trent Weber, on speakerphone.
At a Wednesday news conference, Ted Bland, chief of York Factory First Nation, located on the shore of Hudson Bay, said there are growing concerns regarding the welfare of the people from his community, many of whom live in Churchill.
“It’s not getting easier,” he said. “I’m concerned people will go into depression because of the loss of jobs and loss of income and the difficulty supporting their families. Government needs to act. Omnitrax needs to come to the table. We need to see something happen.”
— With files from Martin Cash
dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
History
Updated on Thursday, October 19, 2017 8:04 AM CDT: Corrects typo