The Canadian Grain Commission has started its second round of consultations with farmers and grain industry stakeholders on the proposed move to 100 percent cost recovery through user fees.
"Stakeholders and clients will have another opportunity to provide comment until March 31st. Feedback that will be received in the second stage of consultations will be mixed in together with the feedback from the first part of the consultations and will be part of the proposal the CGC will send to Cabinet when the consultations are over," explains CGC spokesperson Remi Gosselin.
The Commission reports several themes emerged during the first phase of consultations, including the idea that some of the CGC's services provide a public benefit, and so costs should be funded by the public.
"Certainly we're willing to listen to the feedback...we need to get their opinions on what they feel would be of public benefit and what they feel is of private benefit. We're still waiting to hear from producers and stakeholders on what their opinions are on that," says Gosselin.
Other themes coming from those initial consultations included the need to modernize some of the CGC's services, modernize the Canada Grain Act, and introduce user fee increases in phases.
The second round of consultations will conclude at the end of March. The feedback will then be used to develop a formal user fees proposal which the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada would table in the House of Commons. The projected timeline would see the new fee schedule in place for the 2012-13 fiscal year.
A complete list of the proposed user fees is available on the CGC web site .
~ Friday, March 4, 2011 ~
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