Canada Grain Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. G-10)

Marginal note:Contaminated grain

2.1 Grain is contaminated for the purposes of this Act if the grain contains any substance in sufficient quantity that the grain is either

• (a) adulterated for the purposes of the Food and Drugs Act; or

• (b) contaminated within the meaning of the regulations made under section 51 of the Safe Foods for Canadians Act.

PART ICanadian Grain Commission

Constitution of the Commission and Commissioners

Marginal note:Commission established

3 There is hereby established a Commission to be known as the Canadian Grain Commission consisting of three commissioners to be appointed by the Governor in Council to hold office, during good behaviour, for a renewable term of up to seven years.

Marginal note:Chief commissioner and assistant chief commissioner

• 4 (1) The Governor in Council shall designate one of the commissioners to be chief commissioner and another commissioner to be assistant chief commissioner.

• Marginal note:Commissioner chief executive officer

  (2) The chief commissioner is the chief executive officer of the Commission and, subject to section 12, has supervision over and direction of the work and staff of the Commission.

• Marginal note:Powers of assistant chief commissioner

  (3) The assistant chief commissioner may exercise all the powers and perform all the functions of the chief commissioner in the event of the absence or incapacity of the chief commissioner or if the office of the chief commissioner is vacant.

Marginal note:Salaries and expenses

• 5 (1) Each commissioner shall be paid a salary to be fixed by the Governor in Council and is entitled to be paid reasonable travel and other expenses incurred by him while absent from his ordinary place of residence in the course of his duties under this Act.

• Marginal note:Superannuation and compensation

  (2) The commissioners are deemed to be persons employed in the public service for the purposes of the Public Service Superannuation Act and to be employed in the federal public administration for the purposes of the Government Employees Compensation Act and any regulations made under section 9 of the Aeronautics Act.

Marginal note:Oath of office

• 6 (1) A commissioner shall, before entering on his duties as such, take and subscribe, before a superior court judge, an oath of office in prescribed form.

• Marginal note:Duties to be full-time duties

  (2) A commissioner shall devote the whole of his time to the performance of his duties under this Act.

• (3) and (4) [Repealed, 1994, c. 45, s. 3]

Marginal note:Outside interest

7 A person is not eligible to be appointed or, subject to section 8, to continue as a commissioner if, directly or indirectly, as owner, shareholder, director, officer, partner or otherwise, that person is engaged in commercial dealings in grain or the carriage of grain or has any pecuniary or other interest in grain or the carriage of grain, other than as a producer of grain.

Marginal note:Disposing of property

8 Any commissioner in whom any property giving rise to an interest prohibited under section 7 vests by will or succession for the commissioner’s own benefit shall, within six months after the vesting, dispose of that property.

Staff

9 [Repealed, 2010, c. 12, s. 1662]

Marginal note:Staff

10 Any officers and employees that are necessary for the proper conduct of the business of the Commission, including managers and employees employed at elevators constructed or acquired by Her Majesty in right of Canada and administered by the Commission under this Act, shall be appointed in the manner authorized by law.

Head Office, Meetings and Hearings

Marginal note:Head office

11 The head office of the Commission shall be at the City of Winnipeg, in the Province of Manitoba, but the Commission may hold meetings and hearings at such other places as the Commission considers necessary or desirable for the proper conduct of the business of the Commission.

By-laws

Marginal note:By-laws

12 The Commission may make by-laws

• (a) respecting the calling of meetings of the Commission, the regulation of its proceedings and generally for the conduct of its activities;

• (b) distributing among the commissioners duties to be performed by them;

• (c) specifying the duties of officers, managers and employees appointed as described in section 10;

• (d) designating as an inspector for the purposes of this Act any person who, in the opinion of the Commission, is qualified to be so designated;

• (e) respecting the establishment of committees of the Commission composed of commissioners or other persons or both, the delegation of duties to those committees and the fixing of quorums for meetings thereof;

• (f) designating a seal to be used by the Commission to authenticate any documents issued by it; and

• (g) fixing the allowance to be paid to members of grain standards committees.

Objects of the Commission

Marginal note:Objects

13 Subject to this Act and any directions to the Commission issued from time to time under this Act by the Governor in Council or the Minister, the Commission shall, in the interests of the grain producers, establish and maintain standards of quality for Canadian grain and regulate grain handling in Canada, to ensure a dependable commodity for domestic and export markets.

Functions of the Commission

Marginal note:Functions

• 14 (1) Subject to this Act, the Commission shall, in furtherance of its objects,

  • (a) recommend and establish grain grades and standards for those grades and implement a system of grading and inspection for grain to reflect adequately the quality of that grain and meet the need for efficient marketing in and outside Canada;

  • (b) establish and apply standards and procedures regulating the handling, transportation and storage of grain and the facilities used therefor;

  • (c) conduct investigations and hold hearings on matters within the powers of the Commission;

  • (d) manage, operate and maintain every elevator constructed or acquired by Her Majesty in right of Canada, the administration of which is assigned by the Governor in Council to the Commission;

  • (e) undertake, sponsor and promote research in relation to grain and grain products and, in so doing,

    • (i) may request that a grain dealer or an operator of an elevator provide it with any sample of grain, grain products or screenings in their possession that the Commission specifies,

    • (ii) wherever appropriate, utilize technical, economic and statistical information and advice from any department or agency of the Government of Canada, and

    • (iii) maintain an efficient and adequately equipped laboratory;

  • (e.1) monitor compliance with end-use certificates provided pursuant to section 87.1; and

  • (f) advise the Minister in respect of such matters relating to grain, grain products and screenings as the Minister may refer to the Commission for its consideration.

• Marginal note:Restriction

  (2) The Commission shall not, in operating any elevator as a primary elevator pursuant to paragraph (1)(d), purchase grain.

• Marginal note:Delegation

  (3) The Commission may, by by-law, authorize any person to exercise or perform on the Commission’s behalf, subject to such restrictions or limitations as the Commission may specify, any of the powers, duties or functions of the Commission under this Act other than the power to make any regulation, order or by-law.

Report

Marginal note:Report

15 The Commission shall during the month of February in each year submit to the Minister a report, in such form as the Minister may direct, on the activities of the Commission during the crop year immediately preceding and the Minister shall cause the report to be laid before Parliament within fifteen days after the receipt thereof or, if Parliament is not then sitting, on any of the first fifteen days next thereafter that either House of Parliament is sitting.

Export Certificates

Marginal note:Export certificates

15.1 The Commission may issue any certificate or other document setting out any information that the Commission considers necessary to facilitate the export of any grain.

PART IIGrain Grades, Grading and Inspection

Grain Grades

Marginal note:Grades may be established by regulation

• 16 (1) The Commission may, by regulation, establish grades and grade names for any kind of western grain and eastern grain and establish the specifications for those grades and set out a method or methods, visual or otherwise, for determining the characteristics of the grain for the purposes of meeting the quality requirements of purchasers of grain.

• Marginal note:Coming into force of regulation

  (2) Unless a regulation made under this section expressly provides otherwise, the provisions of the regulation in relation to western grain shall come into force not earlier than August 1 next following the date the regulation is made and the provisions thereof in relation to eastern grain shall come into force not earlier than July 1 next following the date the regulation is made.

• Marginal note:Reduction in value to be minimized

  (3) Any variation in a grade of grain to be made by a regulation under this section shall, where possible and consistent with increasing the acceptance of Canadian grain in export and domestic markets, be made so as to prevent or minimize any reduction in the value of existing grain of the grade to be so varied.

17 and 18 [Repealed, R.S., 1985, c. 37 (4th Supp.), s. 5]

Marginal note:Grades for grain that is out of condition, etc.

19 The Commission may, by order, establish

• (a) grades and grade names for any grain

  • (i) that is out of condition,

  • (ii) that has been specially binned,

  • (iii) that may be marketed on the basis of its specifications rather than a grade established by regulation, or

  • (iv) that, by reason of its intermixture with another material, would not be eligible to have assigned to it a grade established by regulation; and

• (b) grades and grade names, and specifications for those grades, for any screenings.

Grain Standards Committees

Marginal note:Grain standards committees

• 20 (1) The Commission shall, by by-law, constitute a western grain standards committee and an eastern grain standards committee, in this Part referred to as the Western Standards Committee and the Eastern Standards Committee, for the purpose of

  • (a) recommending specifications for grades of grain and selecting and recommending primary standard samples and export standard samples of grain; and

  • (b) performing such other duties in connection with the determination of grain standards as may be assigned to each committee by the Commission.

• Marginal note:Membership of Western Standards Committee

  (2) The Commission shall, with the approval of the Minister, appoint to the Western Standards Committee

  • (a) a commissioner, a grain inspector and a scientist;

  • (b) [Repealed, 2012, c. 31, s. 354]

  • (c) two persons nominated by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food;

  • (d) [Repealed, 2011, c. 25, s. 25]

  • (e) two persons selected from among processors of grain;

  • (f) two persons selected from among exporters of grain;

  • (g) twelve actual producers of western grain; and

  • (h) any additional persons not exceeding four in number that the Commission considers advisable.

• Marginal note:Membership of Eastern Standards Committee

  (3) The Commission shall, with the approval of the Minister, appoint to the Eastern Standards Committee

  • (a) a commissioner, a grain inspector and a scientist;

  • (b) one person nominated by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food;

  • (c) four persons selected from among processors and exporters of grain;

  • (d) not more than four persons representative of producers of eastern grain; and

  • (e) such additional persons not exceeding three in number as the Commission deems advisable.

• Marginal note:Chairman

  (4) A commissioner shall preside as chairman at each meeting of a grain standards committee.

Marginal note:Oath of office

• 21 (1) Each member of a grain standards committee who is not a commissioner and is not employed in the federal public administration shall, before entering on his duties as a member of the committee, take an oath of office in prescribed form.

• Marginal note:Term of office

  (2) The Commission shall, by by-law, establish the terms of office of those members of a grain standards committee who are not employed in the federal public administration.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (3) Notwithstanding subsection (2) and subsections 20(2) and (3), no person, except a person employed in the federal public administration, shall serve as a member of a grain standards committee for a period of more than seven consecutive years.

• Marginal note:Quorum

  (4) The quorum of a grain standards committee shall be at least half of the number of members in office.