Solvent on our watch
Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz has a reputation for sometimes folksy, occasionally absurd and always partisan remarks.
In testimony before the Commons agriculture committee regarding the Stephen Harper government’s plan to gift CWB assets to a multinational grain company willing to partner with CWB, Ritz stated that “there were no assets” or implied that the assets were so heavily leveraged that the farmer controlled CWB was insolvent.
Very little is known about CWB’s financial position since Aug. 1, 2012, when the government summarily removed the elected farmer directors and ended the single desk. Since then, no financial statements have been made available, no information has been provided on sales or costs or the financing of CWB’s elevator buying and building spree, but let’s be clear where things stood when farmers were in control.
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The single desk CWB paid out all its revenues, less the cost of operations, every crop year so it had no capital base other than a contingency fund to backstop pricing options, a special account of uncashed cheques and capital assets used to carry out its business.
Those capital assets included a recently renovated office building and furnishings, computer hardware and software, vehicles, hopper cars and two lakers under construction. The cost of these assets was spread over past, current and future pool years as prescribed by the relevant accounting standards, and the CWB’s financial statements always received unqualified (clean) audits from the external auditor.
Also worth mentioning was the CWB’s fully funded pension plan, that left no unfunded pension liability in the event of wind-up.
The net fair market value of CWB assets on July 31, 2012, might be a matter of some debate but it was certainly not zero. The $145 million cash in the contingency fund alone was indisputably $145 million. It is also indisputable that the assets were all paid for by farmers. Of course, the greatest CWB asset was its single desk, and its value remains the subject of legal action.
The enormity of the Stephen Harper government’s actions regarding the CWB must not be forgotten. The government ousted democratically elected farmer directors and ended farmer control of the CWB. They killed the single desk, even though farmers supported it in seven consecutive director elections and the CWB plebiscite — the equivalent of torching the factory.
Those actions made employees, office space and computer systems redundant, triggering untold millions in severance, write-downs and broken contracts.
The government acknowledged this by committing $349 million (in) taxpayer dollars (The Canadian Press, June 28, 2012) to add to the fire and is now apparently ready to hand over whatever is left and whatever has been purchased with farmer and taxpayer funds to a grain company willing to “partner” with CWB.
… The facts are that on our watch, the CWB was financially sound, with significant assets held on behalf of farmers and a mandate from farmers supporting the single desk. It is minister Ritz and the Harper government that must answer for the debacle that has followed.
Former elected CWB directors: Allen Oberg, Forestburg, Alta.; Larry Hill, Swift Current, Sask.; Ian McCreary, Bladworth, Sask.; Bill Nicholson, Shoal Lake, Man.; Bill Toews, Kane, Man.; Bill Woods, Eston, Sask.; Rod Flaman, Edenwold, Sask.; Cam Goff, Hanley, Sask.; Stewart Wells, Swift Current, Sask.; John Sandborn, Benito, Man.; Kyle Korneychuk, Pelly, Sask.
Trust Mulroney?
Your Capital Letters column written by Kelsey Johnson (WP, Dec. 11) is quite disturbing (my view).
Here Kelsey is quoting Brian Mulroney’s views on how we have to dismantle supply management for dairy and poultry farmers in Canada.
While he was prime minister, he wanted to get rid of the Canadian Wheat Board. He promoted the idea that farmers would make more money. Harper just got rid of the Canadian Wheat Board for Mulroney and this past crop year, farmers in Western Canada were getting just over $4 per bushel for wheat and the grain companies were selling that same wheat to overseas customers for over $11 per bushel. This sure looks like a loss to me.
The newspapers tell us that this is the same Brian Mulroney that had business dealings with Karlheinz Schreiber and Mulroney received cash payments under the table for influencing Air Bus contracts.
Mulroney denied taking any money from Schreiber or doing any business dealings with him and even went to court for defamation of character. We, Canadian taxpayers, paid Mulroney approximately $1 million.
A few years later it was proved that Brian Mulroney got money from Schreiber, and Revenue Canada revealed that Mulroney had not paid income tax on this money. Mulroney should have had to pay the taxpayers of Canada the $2 million back.
Conclusion: How can we trust Mulroney when he wants farmers to get rid of supply management?
David Bailey,
Saskatoon, Sask.
What a year
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, (agriculture minister) Gerry Ritz and (MP David) Anderson stole the farmer-owned Canadian Wheat Board, which was run by farmers, paid for by farmers and returned all profits to farmers. It is now in the process of being given to its largest competitor.
Harper reduced the role of the Canadian Grain Commission, which protected farmers from unscrupulous grading by multinational grain companies.
He cut funding and eliminated the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s role in protecting consumers from unsafe drugs and food products, false advertising and enforced labelling.
He cut the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration, which operated 85 community pastures, water management, grants for wells and dugouts and provided trees for farms, community development, municipal governments, etc., affecting not only those employed at Indian Head, Sask., but those that benefited from the nursery.
In the spring of 2011, the shelter belt program shipped nearly three million seedlings to 7,500 rural people to create 1,200 kilometres of field shelter belts, 2,218 km of yard and 134 km of riparian shelter belts. These shelter belts not only provide habitat for wildlife but also combat pollution.
Then Ritz announced that the government was setting up a $25 million (taxpayer) grant to boost grain shipping through the Port of Churchill — a real windfall for OmniTrax Rail and multinational grain corporations.
In 2011-12, Harper announced $418 million was being cut from agriculture and agri-food budget.
And now, the federal government has issued a call for proposals to transfer and possibly sell off Agriculture Canada cereal crop research and plant breeding germplasm related to the devastating plant disease fusarium.
Can the fate of our public research stations be far behind?
The federal government has already stopped funding public plant breeding beyond the development of germplasm, which must then be sold to private breeders to develop varieties for commercialization. …
Farmers, whose check-off dollars support this research, will pay yet again through the increased royalties that would be granted under UPOV 91. This system of private interests benefitting twice — first by using public research funding and then by collecting royalties on seed and production — is unjust and against the public interest.…
In the words of Winnipeg MP Pat Martin, “Has the minister lost his freaking mind?”
Joyce Neufeld,
Agribition coverage
It was nice to see your coverage of Agribition 2014.
Almost everyone enjoys livestock shows and photos of the livestock, but I feel you and your readers need a gentle reminder of the significance of the trade show area.
The trade show has a huge footprint at Agribition with some 400 exhibitors exhibiting many Canadian innovations. Many come long distances to see these exhibits and exhibitors travel extensively to be there. There are some 800 international guests from approximately 70 countries visiting, many of whom also appreciate the trade show area.
The trade show has an estimated $10 million impact on the Saskatchewan economy, either through direct or indirect sales.
It seems an oversight to give zero coverage to this aspect of Agribition.
Editor’s note: The Producer’s Dec. 4 story “Attractive prices help boost show atmosphere” noted the show “pumps an estimated $37 million into the provincial economy, and Regina is the main beneficiary.”
Jim Anderson,
Rimbey, Alta.
