Peter Eckersley is getting a taste of just how intense and contentious Canadian Wheat Board politics can be.
The co-ordinator of this fall’s wheat board elections stood accused last week of distributing “propaganda” designed to help elect pro-monopoly candidates to the CWB board of directors.
And it left him perplexed.
“I’m very disappointed, because I can guarantee you there is no such propaganda out there,” said Eckersley, who works for the consulting firm Meyers Norris Penny.
At the centre of the controversy is a brochure mailed by MNP to potential voters. The brochure provides basic election information and encourages people to vote.
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In a section entitled “Be Informed,” farmers are told that the wheat board had total revenues of more than $4 billion on sales of 19.6 million tonnes of grain last year.
The brochure goes on to say:
“After deducting net operating costs, the CWB returned almost $3.9 billion – or 97 percent of sales proceeds – back to western farmers.”
As far as the members of CARE are concerned, that sentence constitutes “blatant, self-serving propaganda” designed to support monopoly candidates.
“It’s something you’d expect in a Yugoslavian election,” according to an Oct. 25 news release put out by CARE (an acronym for choice, accountability, responsibility and efficiency).
The organization, which was formed to help elect dual market supporters to the board, said the brochure fuels cynicism among farmers that the election is “rigged” in favor of pro-monopoly candidates.
Eckersley can’t figure out what the fuss is about. He said the information was intended to tell farmers that the board is a big operation that’s important in their farming business and that they should cast a ballot.
“It’s simply a matter of public record as produced by an independent audit, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s a fact,” he said.
“I really don’t understand how anybody would take exception to it.”
CARE says a veil of secrecy at the board prevents farmers from knowing whether that 97 percent figure is correct.
But Bill Cooper, a CARE member from Foam Lake, Sask., said it’s not really a question of whether it’s true or not. The problem, he said, is that the information makes the board look good.
“It suggests that 97 percent of the money is coming back to farmers and people see that and think it’s really positive news about the wheat board,” he said.
“I don’t think they should be putting out positive or negative information about the wheat board. They should put out nothing.”
Eckersley said MPN is promoting the election, not the board. He doesn’t think CARE’s complaint about the brochure is shared by many farmers.
“We’ve had maybe four or five phone calls about it,” he said.
Cooper said future wheat board elections should be conducted by Elections Canada, rather than a private company hired by the wheat board.
