Some of the federal government’s controversial proposals for Canadian Wheat Board reforms will be changed before they become law, predicted Liberal members of Parliament who will scrutinize the bill.
Shortly after MPs return to Parliament Hill in early February, the wheat board amendments will receive a few hours of House of Commons debate and then be referred to the Commons agriculture committee for detailed scrutiny and hearings.
“I’d be surprised if there aren’t amendments,” agriculture committee chair Lyle Vanclief said. “As MPs, we already have been receiving a divergence of opinion. It is clear no matter what we do, everybody will not get exactly what they want.”
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Shortly after he unveiled the proposals to reform the wheat board, agriculture minister Ralph Good-ale signalled he would be willing to accept some changes in the bill’s details, including the details of how accountable the new wheat board directors are to Ottawa and how accountable they are to farmers.
“I’m prepared to entertain all reasonable ideas for how to get that accountability structure right, because for the future, that proper kind of public accountability is exceedingly important,” the minister told the agriculture committee in December.
For Reform MP Elwin Hermanson and farm sector critics of the government proposals, the crucial debate this winter will be over what Goodale and his Liberal majority consider reasonable.
Make little changes
“I’m afraid Mr. Goodale might accept some obvious changes, like designating a majority of the board to be elected, but refuse to budge on the control that Ottawa has over that board,” said Hermanson. “That would be conceding inches when a yard is required.”
The legislation would create a board of directors, allow some elections to that board, change some wheat board pooling and purchasing practices and create the possibility of future farmer votes on changes to board powers.
It also would leave substantial power in Ottawa’s hands. The minister or cabinet would approve annual wheat board business plans, appoint the wheat board chief operating officer and board chair and retain the right to dismiss board members, elected or appointed.
Those powers have left many critics on the Prairies fuming that the new wheat board would be as much or more under Ottawa’s control as the existing appointed board.
There will be proposals to change that.
Saskatchewan Liberal Bernie Collins, a member of the committee, has spent the past month listening to constituents talk about government proposals.
He said he would support a change to have the elected directors pick their own chair, rather than leaving it as a government appointment.
Appoint chair
“My own feeling is that the people who make up the board … should appoint their own chair. It would make them responsible to the people they deal with.”
He said he also will be interested in hearing how the government defends a proposal to limit the initial payment guarantee to the first established price and not to subsequent increases.
“That is drawing a lot of comment.”
Other MPs have other bones to pick with the legislation.
Liberal Wayne Easter said he has some questions about whether the proposed changes, including a new option to offer cash prices above the initial price if grain is needed, will undermine the board and its pooling system.
