HALIFAX – Despite the political opposition that has stymied Conservative government attempts to reform the Canada Grain Act and the Canadian Grain Commission, the system needs fixing, says a retiring CGC commissioner.
Cam Dahl, retiring this month at the end of his three-year term, said in a July 28 interview the grain industry has moved beyond what it was when the act was created almost a century ago.
“A number of things have changed in the industry that are not recognized in the act,” he said at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture summer meeting in Halifax. “It would help the industry to have the legislation and commission modernized.”
Read Also
Farming Smarter receives financial boost from Alberta government for potato research
Farming Smarter near Lethbridge got a boost to its research equipment, thanks to the Alberta government’s increase in funding for research associations.
When the Conservatives twice proposed legislative changes, political and farm group critics accused it of trying to undermine the Grain Commission and to reduce the ability and mandate of the commission to protect farmers from grain company abuse.
Opponents insisted there would be time-consuming debate in the House of Commons and then extensive committee hearings. The Conservatives, insisting that the bill was noncontroversial and should be approved quickly, have never given it priority for parliamentary time and neither of the two bills went anywhere.
In last winter’s budget, the government again vowed to move on the issue but so far, agriculture minister Gerry Ritz has not produced a new bill. With an election expected within six or seven months, it is unlikely this Parliament will deal with the issue.
Dahl, a veteran of Ottawa’s political wars as a former aide to Reform and Alliance agriculture critic Howard Hilstrom, said he was taken aback by the strong reaction provoked by government attempts to amend the Canada Grain Act.
Dahl said the existing act and the rules governing the Grain Commission do not recognize the advent of container traffic. And there is far more emphasis on the heath and safety aspects of dealing with the crop.
He said the bonding rules, if that is to remain part of the CGC role, should be modernized to create an industry-wide pool of security to protect farmers if a trader goes out of business with debts owing.
And he said the uproar over the proposal in Conservative bills to end “inward” inspection of grain moving from a company inland site to a port terminal owned by the same company was caused by misunderstanding.
“It was portrayed as a weakening of inspection but it wasn’t,” said Dahl. “The grain would still be inspected, staying within the same company’s system.”
