CALLAWAY: Will Moe step up for Saskatchewan railway to riches?

Exporting resources such as grain and potash from Saskatchewan through Hudson Bay to markets in Europe and beyond, has long been supported by Saskatchewan Premier Moe. Four years ago, he said in Regina, "The rail line is a lifeline for those communities, quite frankly, and what is keeping that open is exports. So, the conversation with respect to the potential of exporting some of our energy products out of a northern or an Arctic port is a fair conversation for us to have." Producers of all commodities have been waiting on political leadership to kickstart this important infrastructure that would greatly benefit all prairie provinces but alas, no more than encouraging words and a few meetings have come to pass..Groups such as NeeStaNan, an indigenous-led group backing a utility corridor to Port Nelson and Invest Tisdale, (which just signed an MOU with Arctic Gateway Group to export grain through the Port of Churchill,) have had verbal support from political leaders. However, someone has to lead and write the first cheque. Otherwise, it’s all just hot air.Speaking of hot air, one of the challenges of exporting through Churchill is the track over the last 300km going north to Churchill from Amery, which sits on muskeg and permafrost. Trains can only go 10-15km/hour and most of it is single track necessitating significant investment in sidings to allow for trains to pass each other. Reinforcing this piece of track to support numerous trains and heavy carloads would be expensive. In the last several years governments have spent more than $300 million without allowing heavy trains to operate at commercial speeds..But there is a solution: a new port location with solid rail access like the Port Nelson area.Port Nelson is 120km from Amery. There is a railbed that sits on solid ground from Amery to Port Nelson. The silt issue that caused the original port to be abandoned more than 100 years ago is now easily managed. (For example, the port of Houston Texas has 50 miles of dredged channels so handling silt is not a big deal for modern shipping.)To be economic, trains need to run faster and carry heavier loads than they can do to the Port of Churchill. The viability of the existing railway would improve with the extra volumes provided by more products and larger ships as traffic would go over approximately 500km of Hudson Bay Railway track. And let’s be honest, upgrading and attempting to expand the Port of Churchill, built in the late 1920’s, would be as costly as building a new one but still limited by the natural size of the port area and the melting permafrost muskeg railway. However, a new port would be able to handle big, modern ships and bring imports directly into the prairies lowering the cost of goods into Saskatchewan residents.Building a new industrial port at Port Nelson is a shorter distance to markets and one that does not need subsidies from governments to make it economic.Further, Churchill would continue to be serviced by rail, grow as a tourist center, and could still be used as a grain and cargo terminal.This is a 1+1 = 3 solution that benefits Saskatchewan and Canada.An election is days away in Saskatchewan. Will Premier Moe step up, take the lead, follow through on his words and act with a $20 million commitment from Saskatchewan to advance the NeeStaNan Indigenous plan — one that would also support Invest Tisdale’s long-held goals of a viable export option for Saskatchewan farmers and other resource producers?

CALLAWAY: Will Moe step up for Saskatchewan railway to riches?

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