The Conservative government decision this spring to eliminate assistant commissioners from the Canadian Grain Commission system simply reflected the changing industry, said chief commissioner Elwin Hermanson.
Assistant commissioners worked in the provinces as a contact between local producers and the Winnipeg-based commission.
As part of his cost-cutting exercise in the face of a record deficit, treasury board president Stockwell Day announced in March that assistant commissioner positions were being eliminated from government appointees. Many had not been filled for years.
Critics denounced the announcement as an example of deregulation and the Conservative agenda of making the CGC less producer-supportive.
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Hermanson said in an April 8 interview the government decision reflected the reality of the evolving grain sector.
He said the assistant commissioners once were an important link between the commission and producers, going to elevators to talk to farmers during deliveries and meeting with farm groups to hear their opinions about the system and to carry their grievances back to the commission.
“But I think their role became less relevant in the new grain industry where there are fewer elevators and farmers don’t gather there like they used to to chat,” he said.
“They’re not clustered around elevators anymore and so keeping in touch by going for coffee with farmers at elevators is not how to keep in touch.”
Hermanson said the grain commission is using modern communications tools to communicate with producers.
“We go to farm group meetings, make ourselves available and try to be where producers are.”
He added that many producers connect through the commission’s on-line services.
