If you ask me . . .
B A C K G R O U N D E R / Morris W. Dorosh
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says it is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned
with issues of social and economic justice. What it really is is a propaganda engine promoting every left-wing, antifree-
enterprise, pro-union, bigger-government cause it can find. It is supported by people and organizations with like
agendas. The strategy of the left has always been to get the government to run everything and then to run or at least
influence the government. That is the current U.S. direction, as anyone can see.
It is not enough that Canadian agriculture is already drowning in its own internal politics. Now the CCPA has
weighed in on, of all things, Bill C-13, the revision of the Canada Grain Act currently before parliament. It has published
a ‘study’ concluding that this ‘controversial’ legislation threatens “Canada’s grain safety and quality.” Accor ding
to its authors (including a CCPA ‘senior researcher’) Bill C-13 “ignores the lessons learned about the dangers of
cutting back public inspection”. The bill seeks to “eliminate independent government inspection” of grain delivered to
major elevators around the country and leave grain companies “free to arrange their own inspections.” That allegedly
will permit pesticide-treated grain, glass, rodent droppings and other dangerous substances to contaminate “Canada’s
food grain system.” The ‘study’ says this work requires “trained inspectors” who are independent of the grain companies
and “accountable to the public.” In other words, unionized civil servants with full strike rights.
It also complains that the bill will end “an established security program” that guarantees farmers are paid for grain,
increasing “risk of catastrophic financial losses” if a buyer “cannot, or will not” pay up. There seems to be no end to
the disasters uncovered by this purported study from the elimination of unnecessary, redundant and costly activities of
the Canadian Grain Commission. If Bill C-13 passes, the “reputation and competitiveness” of Canadian wheat in international
markets will be harmed, a mysterious price premium Canadian producers now receive will be lost, the risk
of food-safety problems will be heightened and the power of huge U.S. -based multinational grain companies will be
increased at the expense of Canadian producers. Canada’s existing grain system will be destroyed. The opposition
parties in parliament should “work in the public interest” to “safeguard this regulatory success.”
This is the application of simple-minded knee-jerk left-wing dogma to a subject about which the originators of this
purported paper clearly do not know the first thing. C-13 does not eliminate safety or quality inspections of grain; it
merely makes optional the inward weighing and inspection at terminal elevators of grain which has already been inspected
at the time of first entry into the commercial handling system. This is a duplication of a service for which
grain companies pay, ultimately reflected either in either lower returns to producers or less competitive prices to buyers.
This is intellectual garbage is in the service of the grain inspectors’ union.
The notion that “public” inspection is the only acceptable kind derives from the assumption that all private businesses,
including grain companies, are systemically and generically crooked and irresponsible. The same view is
obligatory of all very large companies, especially if they are U.S.-based. It happens that the majority of the activity
and the assets affected by C-13 are Canadian. The inference that farmers might not be paid by buyers because they
deliberately “will not” meet their commercial obligations has the same twisted, perverted origin. It is not hard to guess
where the idea that Canadian grain commands price premiums came from.
C-13 will not destroy the hyper-regulated Canadian grain grading and inspection system, which means that the bill
does not go as far as it should. The bill just touches the excesses of regulation and intervention that are costly to the
industry with no offsetting benefit. The entire statutory grading system, which restricts innovation, which is not demanded
by any buyer and which has not been copied by any competitor, has got to go.
This is a time of heightened food safety sensitivity everywhere. No one argues for the elimination of grain inspection.
However raw grain is the least likely source of food safety problems. It is inspected numerous times, especially
during processing, which is the most critical point and the only level at which all possible sources of quality degradation
are reflected. The big losers if inspection misses something are the processors and purveyors of foods, who have
more incentive to ensure product integrity than all the laws in Ottawa.
B A C K G R O U N D E R / Morris W. Dorosh
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says it is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned
with issues of social and economic justice. What it really is is a propaganda engine promoting every left-wing, antifree-
enterprise, pro-union, bigger-government cause it can find. It is supported by people and organizations with like
agendas. The strategy of the left has always been to get the government to run everything and then to run or at least
influence the government. That is the current U.S. direction, as anyone can see.
It is not enough that Canadian agriculture is already drowning in its own internal politics. Now the CCPA has
weighed in on, of all things, Bill C-13, the revision of the Canada Grain Act currently before parliament. It has published
a ‘study’ concluding that this ‘controversial’ legislation threatens “Canada’s grain safety and quality.” Accor ding
to its authors (including a CCPA ‘senior researcher’) Bill C-13 “ignores the lessons learned about the dangers of
cutting back public inspection”. The bill seeks to “eliminate independent government inspection” of grain delivered to
major elevators around the country and leave grain companies “free to arrange their own inspections.” That allegedly
will permit pesticide-treated grain, glass, rodent droppings and other dangerous substances to contaminate “Canada’s
food grain system.” The ‘study’ says this work requires “trained inspectors” who are independent of the grain companies
and “accountable to the public.” In other words, unionized civil servants with full strike rights.
It also complains that the bill will end “an established security program” that guarantees farmers are paid for grain,
increasing “risk of catastrophic financial losses” if a buyer “cannot, or will not” pay up. There seems to be no end to
the disasters uncovered by this purported study from the elimination of unnecessary, redundant and costly activities of
the Canadian Grain Commission. If Bill C-13 passes, the “reputation and competitiveness” of Canadian wheat in international
markets will be harmed, a mysterious price premium Canadian producers now receive will be lost, the risk
of food-safety problems will be heightened and the power of huge U.S. -based multinational grain companies will be
increased at the expense of Canadian producers. Canada’s existing grain system will be destroyed. The opposition
parties in parliament should “work in the public interest” to “safeguard this regulatory success.”
This is the application of simple-minded knee-jerk left-wing dogma to a subject about which the originators of this
purported paper clearly do not know the first thing. C-13 does not eliminate safety or quality inspections of grain; it
merely makes optional the inward weighing and inspection at terminal elevators of grain which has already been inspected
at the time of first entry into the commercial handling system. This is a duplication of a service for which
grain companies pay, ultimately reflected either in either lower returns to producers or less competitive prices to buyers.
This is intellectual garbage is in the service of the grain inspectors’ union.
The notion that “public” inspection is the only acceptable kind derives from the assumption that all private businesses,
including grain companies, are systemically and generically crooked and irresponsible. The same view is
obligatory of all very large companies, especially if they are U.S.-based. It happens that the majority of the activity
and the assets affected by C-13 are Canadian. The inference that farmers might not be paid by buyers because they
deliberately “will not” meet their commercial obligations has the same twisted, perverted origin. It is not hard to guess
where the idea that Canadian grain commands price premiums came from.
C-13 will not destroy the hyper-regulated Canadian grain grading and inspection system, which means that the bill
does not go as far as it should. The bill just touches the excesses of regulation and intervention that are costly to the
industry with no offsetting benefit. The entire statutory grading system, which restricts innovation, which is not demanded
by any buyer and which has not been copied by any competitor, has got to go.
This is a time of heightened food safety sensitivity everywhere. No one argues for the elimination of grain inspection.
However raw grain is the least likely source of food safety problems. It is inspected numerous times, especially
during processing, which is the most critical point and the only level at which all possible sources of quality degradation
are reflected. The big losers if inspection misses something are the processors and purveyors of foods, who have
more incentive to ensure product integrity than all the laws in Ottawa.
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