Anyone expecting a quick decision on the future of the Canadian Wheat Board shouldn’t. According to agriculture minister Ralph Goodale, it will be late fall or winter before he will announce what, if any, changes will be made to how the board operates.
Speaking in Swift Current last week, the minister said he has given farmers until the end of August to respond to the findings of the Western Grain Marketing Panel. After that, he said, he will “try to absorb all input very carefully” then “in the fall and early winter the government will have some decisions to make.”
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Goodale did not close the door on the plebiscite many farmers have been asking for. It “is not something I have embraced as yet, but it is also something I have not rejected,” he said.
On the face of it, Goodale is trying to get all the input he can on the report.
Unfortunately for him, he just looks as if he doesn’t want to make a decision. And who can blame him? Whatever he does will be unpopular with one group or another.
He is faced by two solitudes,two diametrically opposed views on what should be the fate of the Canadian Wheat Board. On the one side are those who would let farmers do their own marketing, on the other are those who want to retain the Board as it is. There is at present no middle position, and Goodale knows it.
He seems to be desperately searching for one and he seems to hope one will appear in the spate of letters he anticipates receiving from farmers this month.
He may well hope in vain.
A compromise solution would be one which allows dual marketing in some form. While this may have its attractions, it leaves the question of how effective the wheat board would be.
Those who say dual marketing would kill the wheat board are probably right since it would be hard for the board to know exactly what it had to sell, and for those staying with the board returns would be lower since they would bear a higher proportion of operating costs.
Delaying a decision is not going to help. Goodale has a unanimous panel report in front of him, in less than 30 days he will have the input he has been seeking from farmers.
An early fall decision should be more than possible. Indeed, it is imperative. The uncertainty, the wrangling must be ended so farmers and Goodale can move on. Delaying this decision is akin to delaying a visit to the dentist – it isn’t going to go away and the anticipation is often worse than the event itself.
