SASKATOON — The Canadian Grain Commission is preparing a code of ethics to ensure its senior officials are “above reproach in every respect.”
But the commission doesn’t seem very anxious to tell people about it.
A press release announcing the policy review was sent out May 20. But in an extremely unusual move it was sent to only one media outlet in Canada, the Winnipeg-based weekly newspaper the Manitoba Co-operator.
A commission spokesperson said that’s because the decision to prepare new conflict of interest guidelines, including a code of ethics, was a direct response to stories that appeared in that newspaper.
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Undermined position
Those stories said that assistant CGC commissioner Lynn Flewitt grew the unregistered U.S. wheat variety Grandin in 1992 and sold it as seed during its one-year interim registration. Several grain industry officials quoted in the story said those actions undermined the commission’s public stance of discouraging farmers from growing unregistered varieties.
Chief commissioner Milt Wakefield said in the press release that while Flewitt did not break the law, his actions were “inappropriate” and a new code of ethics will be developed to prevent anything similar happening again.
He said a person in such a position must do more than obey the law: “Such a person must live by the spirit of laws which have been put in place to assure that Canadian grain is of the highest quality.”
The commission hopes to have the new rules by the end of September. Commission employees are bound by the federal government’s conflict of interest rules, but never had their own code of ethics.
Asked why the press release was not sent to other newspapers, radio or television stations, CGC communications officer Paul Graham said it was a question of “context.”
“Everybody needs context and if you didn’t have the Co-operator’s stories you wouldn’t have the context and the news release itself wouldn’t make that much sense to people,” he said, adding that anyone who asked would have been given the press release.
