moved:
Motion No. 2
That Bill C-51, in Clause 12, be amended by replacing lines 37 and 38, on page 6, with the following:
"et or receipt relates within one hundred and eighty days after the day on which".
Motion No. 4
That Bill C-51, in Clause 19, be amended by replacing line 9, on page 11, with the following:
"grain in a licensed primary elevator, licensed terminal elevator or li".
Motion No. 5
That Bill C-51, in Clause 22, be amended by replacing lines 33 to 40, on page 11, with the following:
"81. (1) With respect to the purchase of western grain from the producer of that grain, every licensed grain dealer shall, at the prescribed time and in the prescribed manner,
(a) issue a grain receipt, elevator receipt or cash purchase ticket stating the grade name, grade and dockage of the grain, and immediately provide it to the producer, or
(b) where no Canada grade name is applicable to the grain, issue a grain receipt, elevator receipt or cash purchase ticket stating the type of grain by name, value of the grain and dockage of the grain, and immediately provide it to the producer."
Mr. Speaker, these motions propose to achieve two things. One is to extend the time that grain may be left in an elevator before it is priced. In effect it will be extending the time from 90 to 180 days and provides additional protection to the farmer who left the grain for storage up to the 180 days.
This is a reduction from the current law in which the protection lasts for one year. It would cut the time in half. The effect on farmers is that it forces them to price grain more quickly than is currently required. Ninety days in my estimation and in the estimation of a lot of producers is not a great deal of time. It forces them to unload the grain that has been delivered to commercial storage to await a price.
Second, Motions Nos. 4 and 5 have the effect of including the designation, "elevator receipt" in the choices of paperwork that might be engaged in on delivery of grain to the various receivers.
It is extremely important that an official elevator receipt be available on demand for the producer. I remind the House that the elevator receipt means a document in the prescribed form issued in respect of grain delivered to an elevator acknowledging receipt of the grain and subject to any conditions contained therein or in this act, entitling the holder of the document, who now be the farmer; (a) to delivery of grain of the same kind, grade and quantity as the grain referred to in the document or; (b) in the case of a document issued for specially binned grain, which is another designation under the act, to deliver the identical grain.
With the inclusion of an elevator receipt we are permitting the producer to retain the exact amount and type of grain he has delivered. He has not yet given up ownership of it. He has only put it in storage and started it into the system.
This is important in the event a grain dealer goes into bankruptcy. It permits the farmer to extract his grain from the institution and safeguards against what can only be described as rip-offs that have occurred in the past.
Prior to the grains act being changed a couple of years ago, some processors actually accumulated thousands of bushels of grain and collected credit on them, when bankrupt, using the grains to relieve some of the elements of their debt. In effect
they were transferring the ownership of that grain from the farmer to themselves without any money having changed hands.
These amendments are designed to provide adequate protection for producers who use the wide variety of choices under the grains act. Therefore no matter what their choice they would have the same recourse to protection by the demand for the issuance of an elevator receipt. With my amendments this would give the producer the protection and knowledge that he would still be the owner and would still have the right to the sale of that grain.