CAMROSE, Alta. (Staff) – The Alberta government should back off its obsession with ending the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly, said the president of an Alberta farm organization.
“Not all producers support that,” said Ron Leonhardt, president of the newly formed Wild Rose Agricultural Producers.
The Alberta government’s decision to try and end the wheat board monopoly by court action is not the way farm policy should be made, said the Drumheller farmer. “It should be the producers that decide.”
More options wanted
Leonhardt said the December plebiscite on the future of wheat and barley marketing in Alberta didn’t ask farmers if they wanted to end the wheat board, just whether farmers want more marketing options. More than 60 percent of those who voted in the plebiscite said they wanted more marketing freedom.
“By saying you’re taking the board to court is saying you’re out to destroy the board and there are producers out there who don’t want to see that happen.”
