Canada. Royal Grain Inquiry Commission : The Royal Grain Inquiry Commission was established under Order in Council P.C. 1577, 27 June 1936 under Part I of the Inquiries Act (R.S.C., 1927, c.99) and on the recommendation of the Minister of Trade and Commerce. The Commission was mandated to inquire into production, buying, selling, holding, storing, transporting and exporting of Canadian grains and grain products, specifically to inquire into and report upon: (a) the methods used in marketing Canadian grains abroad, including government grain boards, co-operative or pool marketing, price stabilization measures and the open market or competitive methods, and the effect of these various methods on markets; (b) all transactions since the year 1930 pertaining to the handling of grain for relief and seeding purposes in the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta under the dominion government guarantee or otherwise; (c) the extent to which the Canadian Wheat Board protected speculative short interests in the Winnipeg wheat market in December 1935, immediately following the higher price fixed by the Argentine government for Argentine wheat, and the effect, whether beneficial or harmful, of any such action taken by the board; (d) the effect of the practice of mixing and of the selection of grain for protein content by millers and exporters; (e) the causes of the decrease in Canadian grain exports in recent years; and (f) the measures that should be taken to retain and to extend marketing throughout the world of Canadian wheat and other grains and their products. The Commissioner was William Ferdinand Alphonse Turgeon and the Secretary was Thomas William Grindley.
On 12 December 1935 the government of Argentina raised the price of wheat to producers to .90 (Canadian) per bushel. This was an increase of .37 cents a bushel over the previous minimum price and .18 per bushel over the market price in Buenos Aires. As a result, the Canadian Wheat Board took advantage of the market situation and offered some 10 million bushels for sale on the following day. The large sale of Canadian wheat, which took place so soon after the high wheat price fixed by the Argentine government, caused suspicion over whether the Canadian Wheat Board had shown undue favouritism to certain speculators in the grain market.
On 18 March 18 a Special Committee of the House of Commons on the Marketing of Wheat and other Grains was established mainly as a result of these suspicions. At the instigation of Mr. J.R. Murray, Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Wheat Board, the Cabinet Wheat Committee decided it would be in the public interest to hold a public inquiry and urged the Special Committee to recommend one. The Special Committee accepted this proposal and embodied it in their final report of 11 June 1936. The committee believed that the course taken by the Canadian Wheat Board in the marketing of wheat was consistent with the intention of Parliament in enacting the Canadian Wheat Board Act (25-26 Geo V, c.53, 1935) and with the policy of the government to reduce the wheat surplus to reasonable proportions. The committee went on to say: "While there was a short interest in the Winnipeg wheat market in December of 1935, no evidence was produced that would warrant the conclusion that speculative short interests were protected by the board in that month." Because the committee found it impossible to obtain conclusive evidence on this point, it recommended the appointment of a royal commission. The committee also realized that serious problems existed with the production and marketing of Canadian wheat, and other matters pertaining to the grain industry. Because the committee had neither the time nor the resources to make a comprehensive study of the situation, it recommended that an inquiry into the production, grading and distribution of Canadian grain, including the methods of marketing be undertaken. The House of Commons adopted the committee's report on 17 June and immediately made a submission to the Privy Council on behalf of the Wheat Committee of Cabinet calling for the appointment of a royal commission. The Cabinet responded favourably and established the Royal Grain Inquiry in June 1936 (see C.F. Wilson, A Century of Canadian Grain, Saskatoon, Western Producer Prairie Books, 1978, pp. 522-526, and Report of the Royal Grain Inquiry Commission, 1938, Ottawa: King's Printer, 1938, pp. 196-206).
Hearings of the commission were held in Ottawa, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver from 1 December 1936 to 12 April 1937. The Commissioners also visited Chicago and seven cities in Europe. There were 715 exhibits filed with the Commission. RG33-22 General Inventory
