The Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association is reiterating its call for an immediate reduction and refund of Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) user fees.

The CGC is currently sitting on a surplus of around $100 million, with user fees scheduled to rise another 1.5 per cent this year.

“Since calling for a reduction and refund of farmers’ money earlier this month, we’ve learned more, and it isn’t good news,” said Levi Wood, President of the Wheat Growers. “Not only has the average western grain farmer been overcharged tens of thousands of their hard-earned dollars in user fees in the past few years, but those fees are set to rise this year, which is just going to increase that giant pile of farmers’ money.”

The fees, which were adjusted in 2013 following consultations and amendments to the Canada Grain Act, are set on a five-year basis and increase 1.5 per cent annually. The current fee structure is set to expire in March of 2018.

The 1.5 percent annual increase factor is based estimated future capital and operating costs, increases to capital and operating costs experienced over the last 20 years, and estimated inflation.

CGC spokesperson Rémi Gosselin says they're expecting user fees to decrease at that time.

"We expect to launch consultations in the coming weeks to review our fee structure on a five-year basis extending from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2023," he explained in an email. "Overall, we expect our user fees to decrease significantly based on updated grain volumes projections. We will also review annual increase factors as part of our review cycle."

The Western Canadian Wheat Growers launched a petition earlier this month, asking for an immediate reduction in user fees and a refund of the surplus back to farmers.