Any hopes of forming a common front of provincial farm groups and governments on grain transportation reform were dashed last week by the Alberta government.
Three provincially based prairie farm groups had been trying to line up support from the four western provinces for their proposals on how to change the system.
Saskatchewan’s government was on-side and Manitoba’s new government was expected to throw its support behind the farm groups’ proposal.
But the effort was scuttled last week when the Alberta government came out in support of the recommendations sent to Ottawa by Arthur Kroeger.
Read Also
Going beyond “Resistant” on crop seed labels
Variety resistance is getting more specific on crop disease pathogens, but that information must be conveyed in a way that actually helps producers make rotation decisions.
And it left a spokesperson for Alberta’s general farm organization surprised and angry.
“They’ve turned their backs on producers,” said Rod Scarlett, executive director of Wild Rose Agricultural Producers.
The association said Alberta’s position will take nearly $1 billion out of farmers’ pockets over the next five years.
The provincial government said last week Ottawa should immediately move to implement reforms based on Kroeger’s report.
Ray Bassett, Alberta’s assistant deputy minister of agriculture, said the Kroeger report needs changes in areas like the revenue cap, productivity sharing and promoting competition between railways.
But he said it’s clear the current system is inefficient and changes must be made, and those changes should follow the thrust of the Kroeger report.
Scarlett said it appears the government saw the Kroeger report as an opportunity to realize its long-held goal of reducing the powers of the Canadian Wheat Board.
“I know their stumbling block was the role of the board in transportation,” he said. “But to forfeit $550 million over five years with the revenue cap and $30 million a year on blending revenues and to forfeit a competitive rail system? It seems to be based on ideology, not dollars and cents.”
Meanwhile the Saskatchewan government issued a strong denunciation of the Kroeger recommendations.
Premier Roy Romanow told reporters Kroeger ignored what farmers and provinces said during the consultations on issues such as the revenue cap, the need for more railway competition and the CWB’s role in transportation.
“Mr. Kroeger had a chance to help farmers or industry, and in my judgment, he picked the railways and the grain companies over farmers.”
Romanow criticized the report for failing to recommend open access to rail lines, even though there was broad support for it during the talks, saying Kroeger seemed more concerned with railway profits than farmers’ bottom lines.
Manitoba’s newly appointed agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk could not be reached for comment.
The farm groups’ proposal was developed jointly by WRAP, Keystone Agriculture Producers of Manitoba and the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities.
Officials with those organizations said last week they will now take their proposal directly to federal decision-makers and argue not only that their plan does more to help farmers, but it could carry political benefits for the government.
