CAMROSE, Alta. – Some Alberta farm organizations say Alberta’s recent plebiscite gives them ammunition to pressure the federal government to change the way grain is marketed.
“We’re going to be after them to aid us to make the wheat board give us some changes,” said Ted Cawkwell, past-president of the Western Barley Growers Association.
Cawkwell said Alberta agriculture minister Walter Paszkowski now has solid proof to take to the federal government that farmers in Alberta want their grain marketed differently.
“I think if the wheat board doesn’t try to change they’ll be history,” said the Nut Mountain, Sask. farmer.
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Last week the results were released from Alberta’s non-binding plebiscite, in which 16,151 farmers out of a possible 36,000 to 40,000 farmers registered to vote. Of those voting, 66 percent said they were in favor of changing the way barley is marketed. For wheat, farmers voted 62 percent in favor of change.
“I’m delighted with the mandate,” said Paszkowski during a teleconference from Chicago with reporters. He said the voter turnout was stronger for this plebiscite than for the 11,000 producers who voted for the Canadian Wheat Board Advisory Committee election, which elected a clean slate of pro-board advisers.
“This means the dinosaur of a marketing system has to change,” said Paszkowski, who was leading a trade mission to the United States.
With the mandate in hand, Paszkowski will soon ask federal agriculture minister Ralph Goodale to amend the legislation governing the Canadian Wheat Board to allow farmers to sell their wheat and barley without going through the federal agency.
Tim Harvie, chair of the Alberta Barley Commission, said lack of political will to change the wheat board is the reason it’s important to carry on with their court challenge.
“There is no secret the guy (Ralph Goodale) is a lover of the Canadian Wheat Board and he’s not respecting the wishes of the voters in Alberta,” said Harvie.
Two years ago, the barley commission launched a lawsuit against the wheat board saying its monopoly on grain sales infringed on farmers’ rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. That court case is expected to be heard in the Federal Court of Canada next year.
But other farm organizations were unhappy with the results of the plebiscite.
Ron Leonhardt, president of Unifarm, said the results were not surprising given the way the question was worded.
“It’s hard for any farmer to vote against freedom,” said Leonhardt, of Drumheller.
Consider board’s fate
“The question of the plebiscite really should have said ‘do farmers want to see the board no longer be a single-desk selling agency.’ “
The question asked whether farmers want the freedom to sell their grain to any marketing agency, including the wheat board.
Nettie Wiebe, president of National Farmers Union, said it’s impossible to draw valid conclusions from the results.
The Delisle, Sask., farmer said the results would have been different if the question was clear it would mean the end of the wheat board.
“I’m hoping the federal government will see it for what it is – a bunch of monkey work,” said Wiebe.
Warren Jolly, vice-president of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers, said because the vote was clearly in favor of dual marketing, the federal government can’t ignore that farmers want change.
The Mossbank, Sask. farmer said while he’s unsure if the federal government will make changes to the wheat board act, the plebiscite might be enough to force changes to the wheat board, such as electing commissioners and having a shorter pooling period.
