OTTAWA (Staff) — The federal government has made some temporary, stand-pat appointments to the Canadian Grain Commission while it tries to figure out whether the management of the agency needs revamping.
Cabinet has approved the six-month reappointment of five assistant commissioners first named by the former government.
During that period, managers at the commission will complete a study of whether the executive structure should be changed.
“We’re going to look at how best to expand the industry relationship role,” chief commissioner Milton Wakefield said in an April 22 interview from Winnipeg.
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The role of the assistant commissioners is key to that review, since they are located around the Prairies and often act as the first point of contact between the commission and the industry.
Cost-cutting measure
Wakefield said the management review is taking place in part because the commission has been going through a general reorganization and in part because the new Liberal government has launched a review of the effectiveness and future of hundreds of government bodies, boards, commissions and agencies.
Intergovernmental affairs minister Marcel MassŽ is overseeing the review, arguing that it is being done in the name of efficiency and cost savings. He expects some to be wound up, amalgamated or absorbed.
Such radical changes are not in store for the grain commission, although the review could lead to some changes in management structure.
In the meantime, reappointed for assistant commissioner terms until Sept. 30 are: Robert Lyster and James Secord of Saskatchewan; R. Lynn Flewitt of Manitoba; William Yurko of Alberta; and Andrew Watson of Ontario.
“The garden’s gonna be great this year. We have cabbage loopers, corn borers, carrot caterpillars, eggplant lacebugs and squash bugs.”
