Evidence of meeting #14 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was recommendations.
A recording is available from Parliament.
1:05 p.m.
Conservative
1:05 p.m.
Conservative
David Anderson Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
I think this committee has the opportunity to set the level of importance with which this report will be treated. The minister would like us to treat it seriously. We have set our agenda, and we'd like to see this committee treat the report seriously enough to have some hearings on it and to discuss the report and go through it.
So the committee is going to have to make a decision about how seriously it wants to treat the report. Outside of that, I can't give you the details right now of what the government's agenda is going to be with the report. I can try to find out and get back to you. Some of it will depend upon how seriously this committee treats it and how long we take in examining the recommendations in the report.
If we are finished this on Thursday, we'll move on from there, but if the committee decides it wants to have more input into the process, it is more than welcome to have it.
1:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gerry Ritz
Thank you, David.
Thank you, folks, for showing up here on such short notice.
Going back to one of your statements earlier, you talked about putting your recommendations on paper to the minister. That would be very helpful.
I'm wondering if there's any way to encompass a timeframe of implementing those recommendations and a cost analysis. There's a lot of talk here today about budgets and budgetary constraints. I seem to remember voting on a fairly substantive increase for the CGC not that long ago. I don't remember the exact number or the percentages, but a cost-benefit analysis of some of these changes, and so on, would be very helpful as well, if that's possible. We'll be asking some of the other players to do the same type of thing.
1:05 p.m.
Chief Commissioner, Canadian Grain Commission
As part of our process, we will be looking at at least some of the recommendations and doing some costing around them. It's going to take some time, but we do understand that this is high priority. It's high priority for us.
As I indicated earlier, our funding situation is on a year-to-year basis. You indicated that you voted on an increase in funding. That was a one-time, one-year funding. We're going to be back on the agenda for more funds for the 2007-08 year and beyond, because if there are legislative changes, we're going to be looking at a period of time to accommodate any implementation of a new system, a new budget, and so on. So our finances are going to be on the table for a few years.
1:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gerry Ritz
Good.
Thank you so much again, folks.
Just before we adjourn, gentlemen, we have a bit of a housekeeping issue. There's a parliamentary delegation from Tanzania coming, and they would like to sit down with us for a short time next Wednesday, if that's at all possible. So think about it quickly and get back to Jean-François as to who can attend that. At this point, we don't have a time or a date or a place. It will be in the afternoon on Wednesday. They just want to discuss some issues that go back and forth, so it's an opportunity to--
1:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gerry Ritz
Okay. He'll e-mail it around, so keep your eyes open for that. Thanks again.
Is there anything else, gentlemen? We're all in, all done? All right.
This meeting stands adjourned.
