Thank you, Ms. Ashton, for your comments and your question.
The question is whether we considered optional inward inspection by the CGC. First of all, we looked at what inward inspection is. Inward inspection takes place when the railcars are being unloaded into the terminal. In today's modern industry, that doesn't reflect what was required when we had several companies shipping to each other's facilities. Often the Wheat Board was involved and had a stake in the grain, and there was a strong demand for inward inspection.
That is now gone. Where there is a need for inward inspection to occur, it's more of a commercial arrangement between the shipper and the terminal elevator. In other words, if they want a deal, if they want an agreement, they can do one.
It would be very difficult for a federal agency such as the Canadian Grain Commission to provide an optional service. It's challenging enough in this business when you have grain volumes going up and down, and movement varying with the weather, to have the right staff available to do inward and outward inspection.
If we were in a position where we could do optional inspection, it would be very difficult for us to determine what worked for us, given our collective agreements and the way we operate as a government agency. Probably, in our opinion, it would not be fair to our employees and it would be difficult to satisfy the industry. That would reflect, in the long run, on the service that producers receive.
While we could give thought to that, the conventional wisdom would be that it wasn't a reasonable or practical option for the Canadian Grain Commission.