Mr. Speaker, yesterday I asked the minister of agriculture whether farmers who deliver grain to the elevator before July 31 will have to pay the full freight rate for their crop if it is not shipped out of the elevator until after August 1.
The minister confirmed that farmers who sold their grain to the Canadian Wheat Board and delivered it to the elevator
before July 31 will end up paying the full freight rate if the grain was shipped to the terminal after August 1.
This position was not made clear in the budget. Farmers were led to believe that as long as the grain was in the elevator by July 31 the Crow benefit would apply. Now farmers find out this is not true. They may be stuck with paying the full freight rate even if their grain was in the elevator before July 31 deadline.
The minister should have been straightforward with farmers about this deadline in the first place. Farmers will end up paying the full freight rate on some of the grain they deliver before the end of this crop year.