An Act to amend the Canada Grain Act, chapter 22 of the Statutes of Canada, 1998 and chapter 25 of the Statutes of Canada, 2004

This bill was last introduced in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session, which ended in September 2008.

Sponsor

Gerry Ritz  Conservative

Status

Second reading (House), as of Feb. 15, 2008
(This bill did not become law.)

Summary

This is from the published bill. The Library of Parliament often publishes better independent summaries.

This enactment amends the Canada Grain Act by
(a) clarifying the Canadian Grain Commission’s objects;
(b) combining terminal elevators and transfer elevators into a single class of elevators called “terminal elevators”;
(c) eliminating mandatory inward inspection and weighing as well as some requirements for weigh-overs at elevators;
(d) extending the right to require the Commission to determine the grade and dockage of grain at process elevators and grain dealers’ premises;
(e) eliminating the Grain Appeal Tribunals;
(f) eliminating the Commission’s ability to require security as a condition for obtaining or maintaining a licence;
(g) creating additional regulatory powers for the Commission;
(h) modifying enforcement provisions and creating certain new offences; and
(i) ensuring that some of the requirements and procedures set out are clarified and modernized and that certain language is updated.
The enactment also amends An Act to amend the Canada Grain Act and the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Act and to repeal the Grain Futures Act as well as another Act, and includes transitional provisions and coordinating amendments.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Canada Grain ActRoutine Proceedings

February 1st, 2008 / 12:35 p.m.
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Conservative

Jay Hill Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC

Canada Grain ActRoutine Proceedings

February 1st, 2008 / 12:35 p.m.
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Cypress Hills—Grasslands Saskatchewan

Conservative

David Anderson ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and for the Canadian Wheat Board

Mr. Speaker, it is a great privilege and pleasure for me to rise today and support the proposed amendments to the Canada Grain Act, because they touch on a vital economic sector in this country and in my riding.

As I recall, many of the amendments to this act come out of work that has been done at the agriculture committee. It has been done in cooperation with all parties, so I look forward to their support for this bill.

When we look at the tremendous accomplishments of our agriculture and agrifood industry over the last 100 years, the Canadian grain sector stands out as a great success story. Today, Canadian wheat, barley and other grains are known by our customers all over the world for their outstanding quality, consistency, cleanliness and great innovation.

Each and every year, Canada's grain industry contributes over $10 billion to the Canadian economy. These dollars of course drive the economies of both the rural and the urban areas of Canada. They create and sustain jobs right through the grain production chain, from farm input suppliers to elevators, to transporters and processors.

These dollars create jobs and prosperity for Canadians here at home and they support our rural communities, which contribute so much to Canada's economy.

This government has taken concrete action in support of this vital sector of economy. We are putting farmers first, as we hear the agriculture minister saying quite often. Two-thirds to three-quarters of our caucus has rural roots.

Canada Grain ActRoutine Proceedings

February 1st, 2008 / 12:35 p.m.
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Liberal

Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE

What baloney.

Canada Grain ActRoutine Proceedings

February 1st, 2008 / 12:35 p.m.
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Conservative

David Anderson Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK

I notice that the Liberal opposition critic wants to heckle us on that because we do have a massive number of MPs from rural areas and he basically sits alone over there. We understand agriculture from the ground up, unlike the Liberals, and that is why it once again was a strong theme in our throne speech last fall.

Our first act as a new government in February 2006 was of course in the interests of grain producers when we accelerated the grains and oilseeds payment program. They thanked us for that.

We are investing more than $2 billion in the development of biofuels to open up new markets for our grain and oilseeds producers, to create new jobs in rural communities and to create a better environment for all Canadians.

We are working hard to deliver marketing choice to help our western wheat and barley producers capture new opportunities, to make business decisions that are right for their farms and, indeed, even to capture the opportunities that are available to other farmers across this country.

We have improved cash advance programming by doubling the interest-free portion for producers. That was another act we were able to deal with very quickly and successfully at the agriculture committee because everyone there was willing to cooperate.

We have helped the transfer of family farms to young farmers by boosting the capital gains exemption, which for many years has been asked for. The Liberal government would not do that for farmers. We chose to do that. We have moved ahead on it.

We are pressing for an ambitious outcome at the WTO for the benefit of Canada's entire agriculture sector.

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and his provincial colleagues have agreed to move forward on new programs to support farmers. These programs will be simpler. They will be programs that our producers can take to the bank, which is also something that they have asked for over several years. They will be programs that are going to be designed by the farm community for farmers.

AgriInvest, for instance, the producer savings account, is where producers can deposit their money to their accounts and trigger matching government dollars. To help kickstart this program, the government has committed $600 million, which started flowing in January 2008. We hear the opposition crying about our programs, but in fact they are working. We have just rolled out a major one in the last month.

Ministers also agreed to move forward on AgriStability, an improved margin-based program that replaces much of the coverage previously available under the Liberals' flawed CAIS program.

Ministers agreed on the details of AgriRecovery, a disaster relief framework that ensures rapid assistance to producers hit by smaller natural disasters. We look forward to that rollout.

Farmers can expect the whole business risk suite of programs to be in place and available by April 2008. That will be good news for them. They have waited a long time for good farm programs. Indeed, they waited through the entire Liberal regime to find a decent farm program. They will now have those programs in place.

The amendments the government is proposing to the Canada Grain Act and the Canadian Grain Commission are one more illustration of our commitment to grain producers. Canada's quality assurance system for grain is a key competitive advantage for our farmers. The measures proposed in these amendments will build on that competitive advantage.

When Canada's global customers purchase Canadian grain for processing, they can count on getting the consistent quality and cleanliness they have come to expect, load after load. This world class reputation that our Canadian grains enjoy around the globe has been earned.

In large part, it has been earned through hard work, first and foremost by the hard work of our farmers, who grow some of the best grain in the world, but also by grain handling companies, research scientists and the Canadian Grain Commission.

Why is Canada so successful? Our edge in the marketplace has always been quality. This kind of quality did not happen by accident. Much of the responsibility for the quality of Canadian grain belongs with the Canadian Grain Commission and the quality assurance system that it is mandated to administer under the Canada Grain Act.

Canada's grain industry is changing. The legislative tools required to keep the industry competitive need to change accordingly.

The Canada Grain Act has not changed substantially in almost four decades. In that time, the marketplace for grain has continued to evolve. There has been more emphasis on a broader range of crops in western Canada and on such things as identity preservation, niche marketing and processing of grains in our own country.

The biofuels industry, supported by initiatives put in place by this government, has become a major customer for grains. On the previous bill we were discussing, there was some debate on that very issue.

The reform of the Western Grain Transportation Act in the mid-1990s triggered a wholesale diversification as producers opted to market their grains through livestock or to switch to other crops such as oilseeds, pulse crops and horticultural crops.

I do not think the change was bigger anywhere than it was in my own region of southwest Saskatchewan, where at one time we grew almost exclusively grains. Now there are crops growing in my region that we never thought we would grow there, such as mustard, canola, lentils, peas and chickpeas. Farmers have taken the initiative to change their operations to respond to changes in the industry.

Today, wheat accounts for one-fifth of farm receipts on the prairies. That seems substantial, but in the 1950s three-quarters of our land was producing wheat, so there has been a huge shift.

Likewise, marketing structures are evolving as well. The Wheat Board monopoly on wheat and barley was put in place by Parliament 70 years ago because of a variety of dynamics and reasons.

The system was essentially designed to collect the grain produced by small farmers at small country elevators, market it around the world as a uniform commodity and then try to divide the returns from that process among all the producers who delivered the grain.

Today, those dynamics have changed. Our approaches and structures need to change with them. We face the prospect of numerous new and growing competitors in South America, the former Soviet Union and other regions around the globe. We need to respond to those challenges.

As well, in the buying side of the market, the grain market has moved away from the commodity procurement model of the past. Now we have a situation in which large numbers of mainly private buyers select a range of quality attributes for particular market segments.

In other words, people are getting picky. They want high quality products, which Canadians can produce, but they want them delivered at a certain time in a certain way and often in a manner that farmers are best able to meet. Our present marketing system just cannot meet those challenges.

We need to continue to evolve and adapt to these new realities. That is why we are working to open up opportunities for our producers through marketing choice. On barley marketing, a majority of farmers, 62%, has asked for marketing choice. Our new government remains firm in its resolve to stand up for farmers. We remain committed to giving producers the barley marketing choice they are calling for.

The Prime Minister also remains absolutely firm on our determination to move forward with producers for marketing choice and to bring them opportunities they have not had in the past. We are committed to freeing our farmers to make marketing decisions that are right for their own businesses. We want to give producers the freedom they deserve and the marketing options they need to maximize their own profitability.

We are proposing these amendments to the Canada Grain Act to help keep our grain producers competitive by improving the regulatory environment for Canada's grain sector. The proposed change to the Canadian Grain Act and the Canada Grain Commission will help the grain sector to meet the challenges of a more competitive and market oriented sector for the 21st century.

By removing unnecessary costs from the grain handling system, the bill works to build a lower cost, more effective and innovative grain sector. We are working to reduce the regulatory burden. As all costs in the system eventually work their way to farmers, this will result in a less costly system for those same farmers.

These amendments reflect the direction of both the COMPAS report and the good work done by the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. Both reports reflect extensive consultations held with the sector in preparing those reports. In short, these amendments speak to the will and the needs of the Canadian grain industry.

I want to talk a bit about the changes that we are bringing forward.

First, inward inspection and weighing of grains will no longer be mandatory. These amendments remove the requirements for costly mandatory services that do not clearly contribute to the bottom line of farmers and the grain industry.

Currently, the Grain Commission is required to inspect and weigh each railcar or truck lot of western grain that is received by a licensed terminal and transfer elevators. The industry has been calling for change in this area for some years now on the grounds that these mandatory inspections impose costs and are not essential to ensure grain quality. I should point out this does not affect the inspection that is done at the elevator when farmers deliver their grain. We need to be clear on that. They will still be protected.

Inward inspection itself will no longer be mandatory. Instead, shippers of grain will be able to request an inspection at their discretion when they feel the benefit justifies the cost. Elevators will also be required to allow access to private inspectors when an inspection is requested.

The Canadian Grain Commission will also be authorized to provide grade arbitration if so requested by the parties to a transaction, so farmers are protected in their transactions with the grain companies.

Second, the Grain Commission will get out of the business of collecting and holding security deposits from licensed elevators and grain dealers under the producer payment security program. This program has cost a lot of money, since security is working capital tied up with no return.

Some may believe that the security program provides a free service to farmers, but every cost in the grain handling system must be paid and the program does have costs. Worse, it does not work. We all know there have been some spectacular failures in which producers found out the security system did not guarantee that they would be paid.

With the Grain Commission leaving the security business, the field will be open to farmers to decide whether they need payment security insurance if the benefits are worth the cost to them.

The field will also be open to farmers and farm organizations wanting to look at alternative methods, such as commodity clearing house models or other alternatives in which they might be interested. The government will no longer impose the cost on farmers and will no longer make the assumption that it always knows best. This brings the policy in line with other areas of agriculture and it brings the grain policy in line with what goes on in other parts of Canada.

In addition, the legislation proposes several additional amendments to modernize the act. These amendments will improve the clarity of the application and the enforcement of existing provisions. They will reflect current practices as we modernize the act. They will enhance producer protection. They will eliminate some of the provisions that are no longer applicable or no longer used.

I have a final word on the job situation at the Canadian Grain Commission.

The commission will be working with staff over the duration of the legislative process to assess the full impacts of the proposed changes. We understand this process may have a significant impact on the lives of some of the employees and are committed to working with them in a clear and transparent manner.

The proposed amendments to the Canada Grain Act support the goals of the government's growing forward framework for agriculture. They will help the grain sector continue to evolve in a direction of greater competitiveness. They will give greater freedom to farmers to manage risks. They will bring in effective regulatory oversight where it is needed.

The amendments the government is proposing contribute to building a competitive and innovative grain sector by reducing costs, by improving competitiveness, by reducing regulation and by providing choice for our producers and others in the grain sector.

The government has built a strong foundation for agriculture across Canada. We have delivered on our commitments to farmers just as we have delivered on our other commitments to Canadians. In short, we have put farmers first. This proposed legislation is just one more example of that.

Canada Grain ActRoutine Proceedings

February 1st, 2008 / 12:50 p.m.
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Liberal

Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE

Mr. Speaker, I listened closely to what the parliamentary secretary had to say. His last comments are glaring. He tries to leave the impression that the government has put farmers first and it has done anything but. In fact, the way the legislation is proposed, puts farmers behind industry.

In terms of the parliamentary secretary's remarks, there has been a lot of hot air about what the government is doing for farmers. In reality the government is talking a good line, but is not meeting the needs of primary producers in so many ways, especially the hog and beef industries at the moment. What the government is doing now is an insult to those industries.

His remarks on the position of the government toward the Canadian Wheat Board were even worse. The actions of the government are an affront to democracy. The parliamentary secretary knows that this week the minister called the Wheat Board, and those opposed to the Wheat Board, to a meeting and basically suggested—

Canada Grain ActRoutine Proceedings

February 1st, 2008 / 12:55 p.m.
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Conservative

Ted Menzies Conservative Macleod, AB

Ninety per cent producers.

Canada Grain ActRoutine Proceedings

February 1st, 2008 / 12:55 p.m.
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Liberal

Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE

Mr. Speaker, one member over there says that he is talking to producers. We know for a fact that there are 12,000 barley producers in western Canada. The representatives, who were in that room before court in terms of the appeal, admitted they had been in existence since 1976 and represented 130 producers. Having 130 present out of 12,000 is not having barley producers represented at the meeting. That was said in the court documents, and the member knows it. What I am saying is it is an affront to democracy.

The parliamentary secretary mentioned the work of the standing committee in the review of the Canadian Grain Commission earlier. However, the bill, as drafted, ignored many of those recommendations. There is no cost benefit analysis, as was asked for by the standing committee. Recommendations 4, 5, 6 and 11 have been completely ignored.

Let me ask the parliamentary secretary this question. The current minister was chair of that committee. Why did the two members ignore the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food in proposing this bill or is it just another sop to their industry friends in which they intend to weaken the position of farmers in marketing and grains around the world?

Canada Grain ActRoutine Proceedings

February 1st, 2008 / 12:55 p.m.
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Conservative

David Anderson Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure if the member opposite was listening, but I explained the benefits of the changes to the act. They would benefit farmers with reduced regulation and improved protection and opportunities in agriculture in the future.

I want to address the issue that he spent the majority of his time on and that was the meeting that the minister called this week. The member is from Prince Edward Island so we would not expect him to have a clear understanding of what goes on in western Canada right now.

Last year we held a plebiscite and 62% of farmers in western Canada voted that they wanted some marketing choice with regard to barley. Since then there has been a huge shift toward support for our position, for bringing choice to farmers, particularly in dealing with barley. Not only has there been a huge shift, but there is a huge sense of urgency that something needs to be done very quickly.

This week the minister called a meeting between the barley industry and the Canadian Wheat Board. All barley industry participants were invited and they came. Wheat Board representatives came as well. The barley commissions, the barley growers, the malt industry, the Grain Growers of Canada, the brewers, the Wheat Board and three agriculture ministers from western Canadian provinces came to discuss what needed to be done in the barley industry in western Canada.

The member can afford to delay and hold this thing off, but western Canadian farmers are making their decisions about seeding intentions. They need to know what they are going to be doing this spring.

The Canadian Wheat Board is not bringing any sense of certainty to the market for western Canadian farmers. The last thing we need in western Canada is for the Wheat Board to continue to delay on this issue so farmers do not know if they should grow malt barley or not. If they make a decision to move out of malt barley, then the malt industry starts to make a decision about whether Canada is a good place to invest in the malt industry.

We need some stability in this industry and the board needs to take some leadership and make some decisions that will give farmers choice in this area. Then we can develop this industry the way it should be developed.

Canada Grain ActRoutine Proceedings

February 1st, 2008 / 12:55 p.m.
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NDP

Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS

Mr. Speaker, I have great respect for the member, but his comment that the member from P.E.I. did not understand western Canada was a cheap shot.

I am from western Canada, but I happen to live on the east coast. It would be like me telling the member and his party that they have no understanding of Quebec or Atlantic Canada. Therefore, he can retract that statement later in the House if he so desires.

With the direction the Conservatives are taking farmers, or the ones they purport to represent, these farmers, without the protection and the services of the Wheat Board, will end up at the hands of foreign multinational corporations like Cargill and Monsanto. When these farmers end up competing against those huge multinationals, they will be left out in the cold.

Will the government be there to help them? No. It is just an excuse to get out of the way. We in the NDP, and I am sure many others, support the idea of the Canadian Wheat Board because it was successful. If the Conservatives did not fire the Wheat Board president, we would probably have a much better thing going now.

Canada Grain ActRoutine Proceedings

February 1st, 2008 / 1 p.m.
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Conservative

David Anderson Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK

Mr. Speaker, he just proved my point. He does not know what he is talking about. What he is saying is rubbish. We clearly have a situation in western Canada right now where we need some leadership on this issue.

We have the farmers, the maltsters, the brewers and two provincial governments representing 95% of the malting industry in western Canada all on the same page and the Wheat Board and the opposition on the other page.

We need to represent farmers. We are willing to do that. I wish they would get on board with that.

Canada Grain ActRoutine Proceedings

February 1st, 2008 / 1 p.m.
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Prince George—Peace River B.C.

Conservative

Jay Hill ConservativeSecretary of State and Chief Government Whip

Mr. Speaker, obviously time is of the essence, but I did want to rise in this debate to support the comments made by my colleague, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture.

I want to refer to some of the comments made by my colleague. A large number of people in our Conservative government caucus are actively farming, or they have families actively farming, or have farmed before. Although I no longer own land and farm, so I am not in any potential conflict when I speak on issues like this, I farmed for 20 years and raised 3,000 acres of grains and oilseeds in the Peace River country. I am proud of that heritage. My father farmed all his life other than during the second world war when he was in the air force.

That is not unusual for members in this caucus. We have a lot of people who have direct links to the land. It annoys me to no end, and I know it annoys my colleague as well, when I constantly hear members on the opposition benches talk as though they are some kind of an authority on the Canadian Wheat Board and on what it means for western Canadian farmers.

It is fine to be from Prince Edward Island or from Nova Scotia and to tell us how we should market our grain, but it is hard not to get a little emotional about this issue.

As a former farmer and as a person who was involved in farm organizations for years and years before I got into federal politics, one of the criticisms I often heard from farmers was they were sick and tired of programs designed by bureaucrats to benefit bureaucrats. Would my colleague further elaborate on the new programs that are coming into place under this new Conservative government, which will help farmers and which they have had direct input into those programs.

Canada Grain ActRoutine Proceedings

February 1st, 2008 / 1 p.m.
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Conservative

David Anderson Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK

Mr. Speaker, I have a quick reflection on the Wheat Board and then I will move on to something else.

Yesterday I sat on a panel with a Liberal member who brought forward a private member's bill together with an NDP member. Both of them are from urban ridings. I know the view from downtown Winnipeg is a lot different than it is from the farm, but the government has moved to protect farmers from day one.

I mentioned that we accelerated the grains and oilseeds payments. As soon as we formed government, we put that into place. We put $2 billion into the biofuels industry. We have worked hard to deliver marketing choice to farmers. We have changed the cash advance programming that the Liberals never changed. We have changed the capital gains exemption. For years that was requested. We are pressing at the WTO for a good result. We brought in agri-invest, and my colleague asked about that. As well, we brought in agristability and agrirecovery. This suite of programs will be ready in April.

Canada Grain ActRoutine Proceedings

February 1st, 2008 / 1 p.m.
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Bloc

André Bellavance Bloc Richmond—Arthabaska, QC

Mr. Speaker, according to the Chief Government Whip, I should not rise to speak. If democracy were dictated by this government, since I am from Quebec, I would not have the opportunity to speak on behalf of producers from out west or anywhere else. What is happening is not an act of the Holy Spirit. These are proposals and questions put forward by the producers.

I would like to ask the parliamentary secretary—who attended the committee meetings when the Canadian Grain Commission and the changes to be made were being discussed—why did most of the committee's recommendations not find their way into this bill?

Canada Grain ActRoutine Proceedings

February 1st, 2008 / 1:05 p.m.
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Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Royal Galipeau

The hon. parliamentary secretary.

Canada Grain ActRoutine Proceedings

February 1st, 2008 / 1:05 p.m.
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Conservative

David Anderson Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK

Mr. Speaker, I think most of us here would try to abide by the rule that if we are going to speak we should talk about things that we know something about. That does not stop anyone from talking about anything they wan,t but that is probably the first thing that we should consider.

These recommendations deal with a number of issues. In these recommendations and amendments to the legislation, the mandate of the Canadian Grain Commission and the Canada Grain Act is being clarified, but there are a lot of other things going on. The Canadian Grain Commission is moving to protect the interest of grain farmers. It is working to protect the interests of--