EDMONTON (Staff) – Now is the time for supporters of single-agency marketing to press for a stronger Canadian Wheat Board, says a Liberal back-bencher.
Wayne Easter, MP from the Prince Edward Island riding of Malpeque, said last week farmers who support the board are failing to capitalize on their recent success.
“You’ve just won a major victory, with 10 out of 11 pro-orderly marketing candidates elected to the advisory committee,” he told farmers here attending the annual convention of the National Farmers Union. “But you’re not using that win to your advantage.”
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He said board supporters should make use of those election results to demand that canola and other crops be put under the board.
The former NFU president told the convention that despite the results of the election, farm groups and others who want to end the board’s export monopoly aren’t giving up the fight.
“They haven’t backed down a bit,” he said. “In fact, they’re lobbying harder the other way.”
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At their recent annual convention, members of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association re-iterated their opposition to the current board marketing system.
Easter said he has been surprised and disappointed at the lack of protest from prairie farmers against the Liberal government’s plans to change the method of payment of the Crow Benefit and keep whittling away at the value of the annual subsidy.
He wondered aloud what is wrong with the farming community, and asked if people have lost the energy to fight for what they believe in.
The farmers union’s past successes have come about because members got angry and took action, Easter said: “We were aggressive and we were pro-active.If we want to survive, we have to get aggressive and pro-active again.”
