, image = The Canadian Grain Commission building at 303 Main Street, Winnipeg Manitoba.JPG , image_caption = CGC building at 303 Main Street in Winnipeg , formed = , preceding1 = Board of Grain Commissioners for Canada , headquarters = 303 Main St.,

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, minister1_name =

Marie-Claude Bibeau Marie-Claude Bibeau (born April 4, 1970) is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the electoral district (Canada), riding of Compton—Stanstead in the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons in the 2015 Canadian federal elect ...

, minister1_pfo =

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food The minister of agriculture and agri-food (french: ministre de l'agriculture et de l'agroalimentaire) is a minister of the Crown in the Cabinet of Canada, who is responsible for overseeing several organizations including Agriculture and Agri-Foo ...

, chief1_name = Doug Chorney , chief1_position = Chief Commissioner , chief2_name = Jocelyn Beaudette , chief2_position = CEO , chief3_name = , chief3_position = , keydocument1
''Canada Grain Act'' (R.S.C. 1985, c. G-10)
, website = https://grainscanada.gc.ca The Canadian Grain Commission (CGC; ) is an agency of the

Canadian government The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-in-C ...

responsible for regulation of the

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

-handling industry in Canada, as well as to protect producers' rights and ensure the integrity of grain transactions.

Overview

The

is responsible for the Canadian Grain Commission. The Commission is governed by the ''Canada Grain Act'' (R.S.C. 1985, c. G-10), which provides for the appointment of three commissioners by the federal cabinet, one of whom is named chief commissioner. The CGC is headed by a Chief Operating Officer (CEO), who reports to the chief commissioner. Its headquarters are located in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, Manitoba. As of 2013, the commission has two regional offices which provide a full range of inspection, weighing, analytical, and

entomology Entomology () is the science, scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such ...

services, namely,

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

and

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. The function of the CGC is, among other things, tojustice.gc.ca: "Canada Grain Act R.S.C., 1985, c. G-10"
2018-05-04 * *

History

In 1971, the Canadian Grain Commission replaced the Board of Grain Commissioners for Canada, which was created in 1912canlii.ca: "The King v. Eastern Terminal Elevator Co., [1925] SCR 434, 1925 CanLII 82 (SCC)"
/ref> by the Conservative government of

Robert Borden Sir Robert Laird Borden (June 26, 1854 – June 10, 1937) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920. He is best known for his leadership of Canada during World War I. Borde ...

. Even then it was colloquially known as the "Canadian grain commission". The 1912 legislation provided "that all owners and operators of

elevators An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They are ...

, warehouses and

mills Mills is the plural form of mill, but may also refer to: As a name * Mills (surname), a common family name of English or Gaelic origin * Mills (given name) *Mills, a fictional British secret agent in a trilogy by writer Manning O'Brine Places Uni ...

and certain traders in grain, shall be licensed; for supervision of the handling and storage of grain in and out of elevators, etc.; and prohibits persons operating or interested in a terminal elevator from buying or selling grain. It contains, also, provisions for inspection and grading." In 1922, the Davies court ruled that the criminal provisions of the CGA fell without the ambit of the "in any case whatever" section 36 provisions of the ''

Supreme Court Act The ''Supreme Court Act'' (the ''Act'') is an Act passed by the Parliament of Canada which established the Supreme Court of Canada. It was originally passed in 1875 as the ''Supreme and Exchequer Courts Act''. However, at the time, the Supreme Co ...

'' of 1906, and that therefore the legislators could and did draw up a statute which limited the power of the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

(SCC). The defendant, a Manitoba elevator, was convicted for selling grain on commission without a licence, in contravention of section 215 of the ''Canada Grain Act'' of 1912. His conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal, which held section 215 of the ''Grain Act'' to be

ultra vires ('beyond the powers') is a Latin phrase used in law to describe an act which requires legal authority but is done without it. Its opposite, an act done under proper authority, is ('within the powers'). Acts that are may equivalently be termed ...

of the Dominion Parliament, and the prosecution was handcuffed by the concurrence of highest court. In 1925, the power of the Federal government to enact a tax policy whereby 'if at the end of any crop year in any terminal elevator "the total surplus of grain is found in excess of one-quarter of one per cent of the gross amount of the grain received in the elevator during the crop year" such surplus shall be sold for the benefit of the Board' was denied by the Anglin court of the SCC. They ruled that the federal government had encroached into provincial jurisdiction. In 1971 and in the era of the

Canadian Wheat Board The Canadian Wheat Board (french: Commission canadienne du blé, links=no) was a marketing board for wheat and barley in Western Canada. Established by the Parliament of Canada on 5 July 1935, its operation was governed by the Canadian Wheat Bo ...

(CWB), the power of the federal government to declare a private grain elevator works constructed after the passage of the legislation as "works for the general advantage of Canada", thus gathering them under its control under section 92.10.c of the ''

BNA Act The British North America Acts 1867–1975 are a series of Acts of Parliament that were at the core of the constitution of Canada. Most were enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and some by the Parliament of Canada. In Canada, some ...

'', was contested in the Supreme Court. The Fauteux court ruled it be

intra vires ('beyond the powers') is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase used in law to describe an act which requires legal authority but is done without it. Its opposite, an act done under proper authority, is ('within the powers'). Acts that are may ...

.canlii.ca: "Jorgenson v. Attorney General of Canada, [1971] SCR 725, 1971 CanLII 136 (SCC)"
/ref> In 1975, a private

rapeseed Rapeseed (''Brassica napus ''subsp.'' napus''), also known as rape, or oilseed rape, is a bright-yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family), cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, which naturally contains a ...

elevator was declared by the Laskin court to be a "grain elevator" and thus under the control of the CGC and CWB. In 1980, the defendant corporation in a case of illicentious sale of grain contended in front of the Laskin court that its employee, the manager of a grain elevator, could not be compelled to testify against it by virtue of an extension of the

right to silence The right to silence is a legal principle which guarantees any individual the right to refuse to answer questions from law enforcement officers or court officials. It is a legal right recognized, explicitly or by convention, in many of the worl ...

. It failed and a

trial de novo In law, the expression trial ''de novo'' means a "new trial" by a different tribunal (''de novo'' is a Latin expression meaning "afresh", "anew", "beginning again", hence the literal meaning "new trial"). A trial ''de novo'' is usually ordered by ...

was ordered. The court held, ''grosso modo'', that the employee was not bound to the body corporate to such an extent, and the doctrines about

self-incrimination In criminal law, self-incrimination is the act of exposing oneself generally, by making a statement, "to an accusation or charge of crime; to involve oneself or another ersonin a criminal prosecution or the danger thereof". (Self-incrimination ...

did not apply."R. v. N.M. Paterson and Sons Ltd., [1980] 2 SCR 679, 1980 CanLII 227 (SCC)"
/ref>

Building

Architecture

Ernest J. Smith of

Smith Carter Smith may refer to: People * Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals * Smith (given name) * Smith (surname), a family name originating in England, Scotland and Ireland ** List of people ...

was the principal architect of the Grain Commission's current headquarters, nicknamed the "mushroom building", the structure itself is a notable example of a Canadian skyscraper displaying

Brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

elements. The building's "extended cap" was designed because of a space needed between the upper and lower floors for specialized mechanical equipment used to transport grain to an upper-level

flour mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...

and test

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

. Smith remarked on the challenges involved:

Mixing two different functions in a vertical building is difficult. Normally construction would be separated horizontally. In this case, we worked out two separate modules for offices and lab space, ndfound we needed greater depth in the lab and rationalised the present form.

Sculpture in the forecourt

In 1976, John Cullen Nugent's '' No. 1 Northern'', a large steel

abstract sculpture Modern sculpture is generally considered to have begun with the work of Auguste Rodin, who is seen as the progenitor of modern sculpture. While Rodin did not set out to rebel against the past, he created a new way of building his works. He "dissolv ...

was unveiled, a work intended to be a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...

for fields of wheat, represented in multi-layer rectangular shapes and painted the "brilliant" yellow of harvest wheat, and designed to represent Canada's hardy top grade, red

spring wheat Winter wheat (usually '' Triticum aestivum'') are strains of wheat that are planted in the autumn to germinate and develop into young plants that remain in the vegetative phase during the winter and resume growth in early spring. Classification ...

hybrid of the same name. The work was so disliked by some officials, employees of the Commission, the press, and the public, that it was removed in 1978 over the artist's objections and attempts at litigation. In 1997, after a second installation and removal from another federal building in Winnipeg, Nugent's sculpture was reinstalled in front of the Grain Commission building.

References

External links

Canadian Grain Commission Official Website
* list o

includes Variety designation lists
Grades and specifications
page * Watc
''Grain Handling in Canada''
a 1955

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

short documentary on the Board of Grain Commissioners for Canada. {{authority control Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Federal departments and agencies of Canada Agriculture in Canada Agricultural organizations based in Manitoba Government agencies established in 1971 Companies based in Winnipeg Wheat production in Canada Agriculture companies of Canada Marketing boards Barley Brassica Wheat organizations Crops 1971 establishments in Canada