The industry welcomes the federal government’s decision to review the Canada Grain Act and Canadian Grain Commission operations but doesn’t expect change any time soon.
With the House of Commons rising in June and the next election set for this fall, there is no chance a review and legislative change could take place before then.
“Getting through completely, maybe not,” said federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau. “But we have to do these consultations to understand better the needs and how we can go forward.”
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The last attempt to modernize the 1971 legislation died on the order paper in August 2015 when then-prime minister Stephen Harper called the election. Previous bills met similar fates.
Last week, Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s budget promised a broad-based review, “including redundant inspections and issues with the current grain classification process that unnecessarily restrict Canadian grain exports.”
Cereals Canada president Cam Dahl said it is time to move forward even with the prospect that a new government could mean change takes longer.
“We’ve gone through quite a number of reviews to Canada Grain Act in the last 10 years or so,” he said.
“This isn’t something that should take very long because I would suggest that a lot of the background work is done.”
He said because the legislative window has passed, the entire industry has time to put together a comprehensive package to reform the act.
Erin Gowriluk, executive director of Grain Growers of Canada, said the organization’s members welcome the opportunity to look at the grain commission’s governance, funding and overall mandate.
The GGC does not have a priority list, per se, she said, but a comprehensive review is critical.
Creating efficiencies and reducing farmers’ costs are key.
“We’re going to be looking for the most efficient and effective way to deliver the level of service that’s required and we’re going to be having conversations around every single one of those services and whether or not the commission is in fact the one who should be delivering those services or perhaps providing the regulatory oversight and allowing third parties and someone other than the commission to actually deliver those services,” she said.
The double inspection of an estimated 80 percent of shipments at port is a key concern.
Most industry players have called for an end to mandatory outward inspection, saying third parties can inspect while the grain commission acts as the regulator.
This would require a new funding model for the commission.
Gowriluk also said given that a review is underway, the surplus in the grain commission’s investment framework should be returned to farmers. She said commissioners assured the Grain Growers in a recent meeting that the dollars would not be allocated during the review.
“But given that this review isn’t going to be initiated until the latter part of 2019, and who knows, maybe not even until 2020, it’s so critical now that the commission return those surplus dollars to farmers,” she said. “We’ve taken this opportunity to say they have, in our view, no other reasonable course of action.”
Dahl said the members of his organization have differing opinions on what to do with the surplus now that a review will be held.
But he said the issue of mandatory outward inspection and the appropriate role for the grain commission clearly has to be examined.
“How the classification system is structured and works would be another example of things that it’s probably time to look at and ensure that we have a structure that meets a modern industry,” he said.
The grain commission did not respond to requests for comment in time for The Western Producer’s press deadline.
The budget lists several regulatory reforms in addition to the Grain Act. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Health Canada and Transport Canada will get up to $219 million over five years to streamline their systems.
The CFIA still uses paper export certificates and will move to digitize services for more efficient operations.
