Farmers who lost money when an Alberta grain company declared bankruptcy hope the federal justice minister will find a political solution to their problem.
Anne McLellan met with Mundare farmer Gary Broenner during a constituency tour in Vegreville recently.
Broenner was given some hope after McLellan said all the documents about All Grain bankruptcy would be reviewed by her legal department.
“I told her I wanted a political solution,” said Broenner, who maintains the Canadian Grain Commission should have acted sooner to prevent All Grain from operating a grain elevator without a licence.
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Under the Canada Grain Act, all primary elevators must be licensed by the grain commission. Thomas Erling-Tyrell, owner of All Grain, didn’t have a licence for his Bentley, Alta., grain elevator.
In the minutes of a meeting co-ordinated by the Alberta Grain Commission between a group of the affected farmers and Canadian Grain Commission commissioner Albert Schatzke, Schatzke said in hindsight the commission could have acted sooner to shut down All Grain.
“The reporting by All Grain was inadequate and incomplete. The licensing team was concerned about financial liability but had no data to support their concerns. Tyrell sequence was familiar for businesses in financial difficulty. In retrospect the CGC response could have been quicker,” said Schatzke in the meeting minutes.
“When asked, CGC will track down traders to determine if they are properly licensed, however it may take two years,” he said, but later added he is not aware of any cases where the grain commission shut down unlicensed grain companies.
Broenner said while Schatzke told the farmers the grain commission wouldn’t financially compensate those who lost money when All Grain declared bankruptcy, Schatzke recommended farmers lobby politicians to help.
