Omnitrax claims it doesn’t own rail line to Churchill By: Dylan Robertson Posted: 4:05 PM CDT Monday, May. 28, 2018 Last Modified: 5:12 PM CDT Monday, May. 28, 2018

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This article was published 27/05/2018 (2307 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — After Omnitrax refused to repair its washed-out railway to Churchill, and claimed that only its destitute subsidiary could be held responsible for the line, the Denver-based company now says it doesn’t even own the Hudson Bay Railway.

Meantime, the provincial NDP is asking the company to explain an email in which Omnitrax Canada president Merv Tweed appears to ask for a repair estimate to “be high.”

The question surrounds documents Omnitrax filed to the Canadian Transportation Agency. The regulator is probing whether the company violated federal law by discontinuing service on the northern railway, which washed out May 23, 2017.

“None of the various ‘Omnitrax’ companies are the owner or operator of the railway line in question and none of the Omnitrax entities are federally regulated railway companies holding a Certificate of Fitness under the (Transportation) Act,” reads a statement the company filed last November.

The company names a third-party firm as the purported owner of the railway, but the CTA redacted the name of that company due to privacy laws.

NDP MLA Tom Lindsey, who represents Flin Flon, said he expected northern Manitobans to be “shocked” and confused by yet another confusing twist in the Churchill story.

“All of the sudden now, there’s something that says they don’t own it? I don’t know how that makes any sense,” said Lindsey, whose party is the lead complainant in the CTA case.

Meanwhile, a July 13, 2017, email written by Tweed suggests the company provide a “high” cost estimate for a news conference to discuss repairs.

“If you can provide an estimate (be high) by Monday if possible would work. Merv,” reads an internal email tabled with the regulator.

On July 18, 2017, Omnitrax held a news conference in Winnipeg about what it would take to repair the line. It pegged the cost of repairs between $40 million and $60 million. A detailed report released later that summer put the cost at $43.5 million.

The Free Press contacted Omnitrax for comment Friday, and had not received a response by Monday afternoon. The company’s contracted PR firm noted that Monday was the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S., though it has provided responses from Tweed, its Canadian head, in the past.

The provincial NDP is the lead complainant in the CTA case, following a dozen requests for an investigation, after experts told the Free Press that the regulator could probe the company and possibly order a remedy and costs.

Previously, the regulator dismissed Omnitrax’s claim that only its destitute subsidiary, the Hudson Bay Railway Co., could be held responsible for the railway. In a separate lawsuit filed by the federal government, a Winnipeg judge ruled the opposite and stripped the parent company from the lawsuit.

It’s unclear whom Omnitrax believes owns the line. One source familiar with the talks suggested that the party involved is Missinippi Rail, though that firm could not be reached for comment.

In June 2017, Missinippi’s leader, Grand Chief Arlen Dumas, signed a deal with Omnitrax, before he was elected head of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. That deal would have had Missinippi take over the railway and deep-sea port at Churchill for $20 million. Dumas said he needed federal funds for that arrangement.

Ottawa never provided money for that deal, which Transport Canada learned about through media reports.

Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr — Manitoba’s sole member of the federal cabinet — is responsible for Ottawa’s response to the Churchill situation; he would not comment Monday about the company’s claim that it doesn’t own the line.

However, Carr (Winnipeg South Centre) said that talks aimed at transferring the railway and port into local hands — to both Missinippi Rail and a group called One North — are proceeding well. Talks started in September.

“There have been very important and positive conversations in recent times with Omnitrax, and I’m confident that this will result in good news for the people of Manitoba,” he said.

Sources familiar with the talks said Ottawa is at the point of negotiating costs with Omnitrax.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca