Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank both commissioners for coming in today on short notice.
One of the things that we've been talking about here today is this whole issue of inspection, grading, and possibly having a third party involved.
I would recommend that one of the things we look at is what has happened in the beef industry. CFIA has taken the lead in food quality and assurance, on food safety. Grading is being done by the industry through a non-profit, third-party entity. Grading essentially is a process of price discovery. We have to have the flexibility in industry to meet the changing needs of consumers. Allowing that third-party involvement, with industry oversight, I think accomplishes a lot, without giving up anything on food safety, which is a role of government and regulation. I think we need to look at that whole aspect and how that could tie into a whole review of the Canadian Grain Commission.
One of the problems we've had, especially at the farm gate level, is when you're selling your crop off the farm, you're told dockage is going to be this and you're going to be graded this, but then it gets into the elevator system and it's inspected for the second or third time and the grades change. Farmers come in and want to go through a dispute resolution system, while the arbitrator appointed to this is a Canadian grain commissioner who is also the grader involved. We need to have that third-party involvement so that there is a true mediation taking place.
COMPAS did talk about dispute resolution and that there needs to be more of a third-party arm in there, so that we have a true unbiased mediation system. I want your comments on that and how that overall could tie in with what we're talking about in licensing and grading.