In what has become a legislative striptease of Liberal intentions for Canadian Wheat Board reform, government MPs last week made another concession to their critics.
The Liberal majority on the House of Commons agriculture committee agreed April 15 that 10 of the 15 seats on the proposed new CWB board of directors would be filled by candidates elected by farmers.
Originally, federal agriculture minister Ralph Goodale had offered a bill promising that some directors could be elected and after criticism, changed that to “a majority.”
Facing criticism from some farm representatives and Reform MPs that a majority was too slim, the Liberals last week guaranteed two-thirds of the board will be elected.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
The committee approved the legislation April 15 and agreed to send it back to the Commons for debate and final approval.
However, with virtually all MPs last week working on the assumption that Parliament will be dissolved April 27 or soon after for a June 2 election, the legislation has virtually no chance of making it through the Commons and Senate in the few days remaining.
In that light, the recent government concessions will become promises used by prairie Liberals of what will happen if the government is re-elected.
Reform MPs argued the wheat board reforms are too tepid.
They want a voluntary wheat board with a totally elected board of directors. They want virtually no federal government control, including an end to the existing proposal that the finance department, which guarantees wheat board sales, should be able to approve the annual board business plan and appoint the chief executive officer.
Farmer control questioned
“This bill is a charade,” Alberta Reform MP Leon Benoit complained. Farmers would have little real control, he said.
Liberal Wayne Easter accused Benoit of missing the point that government amendments would give the farmer-elected majority real control through the power to set salaries, censure the chief executive officer and elect the chair.
“This establishes clear control and authority for elected producers to the board,” said Easter.
Tinkering details
Amendments approved last week would ensure several things:
- The board would be majority-elected no later than the end of 1998.
- The board of directors would elect its own chair and set the salary for the position.
- The wheat board reforms would not affect the open market in domestic sales of feed grain. Some board skeptics have suggested that a Trojan horse in the legislation may be that it would re-assert board control over domestic feed sales after more than two decades on the open market.
- The reformed wheat board would be able to make an early final payment to producers who asked for it, as long as they were willing to risk not benefiting from an actual final payment if it is higher than the earlier estimate.
- The proposed contingency fund being created from farmer levies to cover potential losses on cash purchases or early payouts could run a deficit, so the fund need not grow too large.
