Agriculture Committee on March 13th, 2008

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

I agree.

Mr. Lauzon, I ask that you make your comments relevant to the competence of the witness before you.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Thank you very much. And I'm really—

[André Bellavance, Bloc, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

If the Committee agrees, I am willing to let Mr. Lauzon continue. Indeed, I find this perfectly fine, as long as both sides are allowed to do so.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

I agree, and I'm going to rule Mr. Lauzon out of order on that and ask that he get very pointed on the question before us about the competence of the witness.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

That's exactly what we're trying to do here.

We have a gentleman here who, according to his resumé, is eminently qualified for his post.

Mr. Hermanson, I understand that you own and operate a farm in Beechy, Saskatchewan. Now, I am assuming that you grow grain on that farm.

[Elwin Hermanson]

Yes, we do grow grain. A long time ago we grew spring wheat. In more recent history we have primarily focused on durum wheat. That is part of our rotation. We have also grown other cereals, including barley and canary seed, and oats if the season is late. We've grown oilseeds and mustard. We have grown pulses, both yellow and green peas. We have grown lentils, and we've tried the odd other little thing, but it's probably best not to go into that. And we've grown feed grains, of course, because we have livestock as well.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

So with the exception maybe of Ms. Skelton, you probably know that industry better than anybody sitting around this table.

[Elwin Hermanson]

Well, I certainly have first-hand experience, because prior to entering politics I made my sole living from agriculture, and it's always been an important aspect of the my life and that of my family.

I might just add that there are three commissioners, and all three of us have a farm background. We all grew up on farms, and two of us have been active farmers. So we're part of a team at the commission that has that first-hand practical experience and knows what it's like to have to earn a living from the soil.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

That seems to make sense.

In your comments, you said, “Many grain sector stakeholders, including farmers, have been requesting updates to the Canada Grain Act for many years”. I'm sure you heard that first-hand from your fellow farmers, if you will, the farmers in Saskatchewan where you have your farm. Over the years, with how many people would you say you have discussed this very issue on which you are now in a position to be able to effect some change?

[Elwin Hermanson]

It's been a long time, because we were discussing some of these issues when I sat on this committee and we had the chief commissioner of the Grain Commission come before us. Of course, I had to try to get feedback for my constituents to find out what their position was on the Grain Commission and other issues.

I can tell you, quite frankly, that there is support for the Canadian Grain Commission among all stakeholders in the industry, particularly among producers, and support for the work of the Grain Commission continues and is strong today. The fact that the Grain Commission is not in the news every other day is a good thing. It is doing good work, and the farmers appreciate that.

That being said, the other thing farmers are particularly concerned about is input costs. I would imagine this committee is very aware of the fact that input costs are one of the greatest impediments to a positive bottom line, even with higher commodity prices. Within the Grain Commission and among farmers, there has been discussion for quite some time about how those input costs could be reduced as they relate to the Canadian Grain Commission. That is the area that Bill C-39 tries to address, and it's obviously something I'm hearing from producers.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

In summarizing what you've just said here, I assume you've heard from quite a large cross-section of the farming community, the grain growers, that there is need for some updates to this Canada Grain Act. Is that the feedback you've received?

[Elwin Hermanson]

Absolutely. Farmers individually, farmers through their organizations, and other stakeholders in the industry have said that there are mandatory costs in the...and this committee, I believe, has said that. I don't want to put the words in your mouth, but I read a recommendation from this committee that said that we need to be cognizant of reducing mandatory costs to producers.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

And who do you serve?

[Elwin Hermanson]

I serve under the Minister of Agriculture.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

But who do you--

[Elwin Hermanson]

And the mandate is to serve producers. I answer to the Minister of Agriculture, but my mandate is to serve producers and to enforce the Canada Grain Act.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

So I would assume that you have had a lot to do with producers. They're your neighbours. They've been part of your life for probably your whole life.

[Elwin Hermanson]

Absolutely. But it's not just producers. When I was involved provincially in Saskatchewan, of course, it was the issues of the entire province. But the agricultural issues have always been, if not all, certainly a significant part of the issues that I have been challenged with and tasked to speak on and to develop policy in regard to.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Let me just go on the record, Mr. Hermanson. I think the people you're there to serve are very fortunate to have somebody with your qualifications. I really believe you are going to do an excellent job.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Thank you. You had time left, but it's okay if you don't want it.

Monsieur Atamanenko, the floor is yours.

[Alex Atamanenko, NDP, British Columbia Southern Interior, BC]

Oh, thank you.

Thanks very much. It's been a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Hermanson.

Let's look at some of the policy that this bill is proposing. Our committee, as you know, did a study on the Grain Commission. Some of us feel that perhaps we went too fast, that there are things in the recommendations that maybe should have been looked at again.

The committee recommended, for example, increasing funding for the Grain Commission to ensure long-term sustainability. The bill doesn't address this.

The committee recommended that the Grain Commission receive adequate funding to be able to properly benchmark other options through a cost-benefit analysis in a three-year pilot. The bill supersedes these recommendations by aggressively cutting regulatory responsibilities and services immediately.

How would you comment on that?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Just before Mr. Hermanson begins, this is outside of the scope of today. Today we're talking about Mr. Hermanson's qualifications. I'm sure we're going to have Mr. Hermanson back when we have Bill C-39 at committee, and at that point we'll address it.

Again, coming back to the rules, he is not here to advise us on policy; he's here to implement the Canada Grain Act as we, as a committee, make our recommendations back to the House when we report it back.

Do you have a point of order?

[André Bellavance, Bloc, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

I just want to point out that the witness himself mentioned Bill C-39 in his speech. So I do not see why we could not raise it.

[Alex Atamanenko, NDP, British Columbia Southern Interior, BC]

The other point I'd like to make is that Mr. Hermanson did address this. He did write the op-ed. How are we to assess the qualifications of someone who is going to be leading the Grain Commission if we have no idea what--

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

I agree with you. He did raise it in his opening comments.

I'll leave it up to you, Mr. Hermanson, whether or not you wish to respond.