Agriculture committee  Again, it depends to a large extent on the feedstock you're looking at putting into the ethanol or the biodiesel markets. Regionally, if you're going to be growing something for ethanol in the east, my guess is it would be corn. It isn't going to be corn in western Canada; it will be wheat or something like it, and eventually it will probably be trees or some other cellulosic type of product, once the technology gets us there.

Agriculture committee  In terms of what is going to happen with biodiesel or ethanol production, my crystal ball is a little fuzzy right now. I think there are a great many options or variables in play in terms of whether it will take off or not. But there is definitely an opportunity for additional grain to be used in the production of ethanol and biodiesels, and it will happen.

Agriculture committee  The report is written from the perspective of recognizing what the CGC does currently, and what it can do for the sector does add value. My own personal view, and it would be echoed through most of the people consulted, is that the CGC is a unique Canadian institution, and it confers huge competitive advantage to grain and oilseed producers in Canada specifically, and to the grain handling and marketing agencies in Canada generally.

Agriculture committee  I have one small comment. Again going back to the ethanol question and the technological solution, Chris is absolutely correct, and I agree with the recommendation that COMPAS has made. If there is a solution to this, it's going to come from the technology side. The only way we're going to get there is with a more concerted effort, one that is going to require more funding in terms of finding a technological solution than we currently have capacity to do.

Agriculture committee  As I said earlier, at times there are resource issues as far as the availability of our inspectors to provide the functions or services that are asked of them goes. Our work is dictated very directly by the amount of grain going through, in particular, terminal elevators. It is also true that in some of the regional offices in western Canada, at all times from all parts of the industry, our ability to actually meet the demands for our service are somewhat constrained.

Agriculture committee  I agree. Can I add to that?

Agriculture committee  I think there are two issues we're talking about here: one is the notion that inward inspection wouldn't be made optional; and the second is the idea of potentially contracting out or accreditation by the CGC for others to perform some or all of that work. In terms of the accreditation or contracting out, I think it speaks to your question in the sense that, frankly, I don't know whether in fact that would necessarily be the most efficient mechanism to perform this function.

Agriculture committee  Perhaps I could take a whack at that. As Chris said, there are 102 recommendations or thereabouts in the report. There are many recommendations that have been made. I think we are looking at the recommendations from the perspective of how we would see the Canadian Grain Commission in a comprehensive way move forward into the future to be able to add value to the Canadian grains and oilseeds producers and the rest of the industry.

Agriculture committee  I think the issue of one new class is that we are trying to address the general purpose component of the wheat non-milling market uses. We could end up with many different types of varieties, specifically aimed at different end uses. It may be ethanol or it might be, as you suggest, other uses.

Agriculture committee  That's correct.

Agriculture committee  That is correct. I think there is clearly, as I said earlier, a need to.... The CW red spring and the CWAD classes account for 85% of the wheat produced in western Canada. It is milling classes of wheat. What we were trying to do by removing ultimately KVD requirements from the six minor use classes and the creation of a general purpose class is to in fact move in the direction of providing our plant breeders with the ability to do exactly what you're talking about.

Agriculture committee  Thank you for the question. The whole area of KVD is an issue we've been wrangling with, at the commission and in the industry, for probably 40 years or more. We have pretty much decided that there are clearly balance issues with respect to preserving the existing market for milling wheat while at the same time trying to create a new class of wheat that can be used on the domestic feed or ethanol side of the equation.

Agriculture committee  No. We're ready to go.