According to the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, the federal government should offer an emergency exception that enables third parties to conduct required inspections of grain shipments on the West Coast. This recommendation comes from the organization. However, the vast majority of the Canadian Grain Commission's grain inspectors have joined the strike that the Public Service Alliance of Canada initiated on Wednesday. This is despite the fact that the Canada Grain Act mandates that all grain shipments leaving Canada by ship and waterway be inspected by the Canadian Grain Commission (known as CGC). Producers are still emptying bins from one of the largest harvests in history, so wheat growers have asked the federal government to "ensure" Canadian Grain Commission workers return to work as soon as possible. If that doesn't work, the Wheat Growers lobby says Ottawa should make an exception right now so that farmers can hire outside inspectors to check their grain. The Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) reports that it has a small number of managers and specialists who are not on strike and who are able to carry out the obligatory inspections, but it estimates that total inspections of grain export and process of certification will be impacted greatly. The CGC has prepared contingency measures, according to a representative for the organization, to give formal certification through modified methods. Wheat Growers of Canada claim that an estimated 70 percent of Canadian grain is currently inspected by both the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) and third parties, and based on what customers want, the Wheat Growers have been advocating for years that the required outward inspection requirement should be eliminated. In a letter sent to Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, the Wheat Growers of Canada make the following request: "To keep inspections going and ships being loaded and released to customers, we need you and your entire government to be ready to give immediate exemptions for third-party service providers." Before spring sowing in 2023, farmers will need the products from the previous year so that they can keep their businesses running and buy inputs for that year's crop. President Gunther Jochum states, "A stoppage would be devastating to the industry, and traffic jams at Canada's ports would likely result from slower inspections of imports and exports, which would ultimately affect consumers. Because of the legal requirement that a Grain Commission inspector sign off on exports, grain farmers are in a particularly precarious position. Is it time for (Grain Commission) services to move to a regulatory supervision model like the United States, where efficiencies are paramount? We understand that this would require legislative action, but in the meantime, we expect the government to make arrangements for non-PSAC Union Commission employees to pick up, bag, and tag samples sent in by third parties for Commission grading, reducing the negative effects of the strike on vessel loading and movement.

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