WCWGA Says New Trade Agreement Requires Change To Canada's Grain Act

Oct 03, 2018

The Western Canadian Wheatgrowers Association sees the United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement as a good step forward for Canada.

One change impacting the Wheat sector is that any registered wheat varieties grown on either side of the border would be recognized in the other country.

Wheatgrowers Chair Jim Wickett says the issue American wheat growers had if they wanted to bring grain into Canada was that it was automatically downgraded to feed.

He says the amount of grain that comes into Canada is 50,000 tonnes or one elevator full.

“It’s not something we need to run screaming and scared of. We ship anywhere from three to five million south and it’s a high-value market. It’s going to take a change to the Canada Grain Act but that is going to straighten that out so that wheat is wheat. So, that if a U-S farmer brings it up he’s going to be graded exactly the same as a Canadian farmer.”

He notes the current clause in the Grain Act is a hangover from the Crow Rate (which ended in 1996) in having foreign grain get a freight subsidy and its time it was changed.

The Wheat Growers have collaborated with US Wheat Associates and the National Association of Wheat Growers U-S on several occasions over the past two years pushing for these changes.

Source : Discoverestevan

Video: $400m loss to save $3.8m? The real cost of closing Canada's research farms | Agri cmte, 10 Feb 2026

Officials are forced to defend cutting a historic $3.8 million research farm while the government simultaneously funded an $8.5 million cricket factory that went bankrupt. Is this evidence of an incoherent spending strategy? Watch the full committee clash to see the government's official rationale.

A heated discussion erupts over the logic behind the government's cuts to AAFC research farms in Lacombe, Indian Head, and Quebec City. MPs question why core, decades-old scientific infrastructure is being deemed 'not core' while other, controversial programs were funded. The Deputy Minister is repeatedly pressed for the actual net savings of the decision versus the expense of relocating research programs.