Two Lambton municipalities say they’ve asked Canada’s transportation minister to talk to Canadian National Railway Co. on their behalf, as a dispute over CN refusing to pay outstanding fees associated with drainage work drags on.
The meeting with Omar Alghabra in London Thursday “went very, very well,” Warwick Township Mayor Todd Case.
He and Plympton-Wyoming Mayor Gary Atkinson requested the meeting because CN, since 2020, has refused to pay their share for drainage work, Case said.
Talks between the municipalities and the rail corporation over outstanding fees — Warwick says it’s owed $160,000 and Plympton-Wyoming $80,000 — reached an impasse earlier this year.
CN has sought a Canadian Transportation Agency tribunal to settle a similar dispute with Sarnia, and Crown corporation officials have said what it pays for drainage fees ought to be determined under the Canada Transportation Act, instead of the Ontario Drainage Act that dates back to 1859.
CN has complied with the provincial act historically, but stopped about three years ago, Case said.
“We just asked the minister to obviously talk to CN and make our case,” he said.
The mayors and minister met for about 50 minutes and no specific commitments were made, Case said.
But “we honestly felt the minister listened to our concerns and we look forward to where that perhaps goes, hopefully in the immediate future,” he said.
The municipalities also are considering legal action, he said.
“We have not had those conversations, but that’s always an option,” he said.
The Rural Ontario Municipal Association of Ontario (ROMA) said in a recent news release, unpaid maintenance from CN and other railways was nearing $500,000 among affected municipalities, the amount for unpaid capital construction projects was about $1 million, and about $1.17 million in critical capital construction projects were delayed due to lack of cooperation by CN and other railways.
CN also has said safety is important, as is water flow in proximity to tracks, and “the applicability of the Ontario Drainage Act on federally regulated railways is an issue between all Class 1 railways in Ontario and the provincial government.”