Conservative MP and candidate Gerry Ritz discussed his party’s position on the Canadian Wheat Board during a debate held Jan. 12 in Saskatoon, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy his debate opponents or some farmers in the crowd.
Ritz, New Democratic Party candidate Nettie Wiebe and Liberal Peter Stroh faced off in an agricultural debate organized by the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan.
Ritz, the incumbent in the Saskatchewan riding of Battlefords-Lloydminster, told the crowd of about 90 farmers that his party wants to give western grain producers the option of marketing their grain outside the CWB system.
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He said under a Conservative government the board’s monopoly would still exist “if producers chose to market exclusively through the board.
“They could choose not to market through the board as well,” he added in a Jan. 13 interview.
“It would be an individual choice.”
His party’s platform states that “a Conservative government will give western grain farmers the freedom to make their own marketing and transportation decisions.
“Western grain farmers should be able to participate voluntarily in the Canadian Wheat Board.”
Wiebe, who is running in Sask-atoon-Rosetown-Biggar, said Ritz’s approach to the subject, raised five times during the two-hour debate, was “disingenuous.”
“This isn’t about freedom to market,” she said.
“This is about ending the Canadian Wheat Board. Farmers have already voted and chosen to keep the board. The Conservatives don’t want to let producers decide about the board’s future.
They try to say a dual market would function competitively, but that’s not the case and they know it.”
Wiebe said farmers would be forced to deal with a few major grain exporters and have no opportunity to share in export market premiums and pooling for their cereal grains.
Stroh, who is running in Saskatoon-Humboldt, said the Liberal party would continue supporting the board and told the farmer audience that, under a Conservative government, politicians would decide to end the board’s monopoly rather than allowing farmers to choose through their democratic CWB elections.
During the Canadian Federation of Agriculture debate held in Toronto on Jan. 12, Conservative agriculture critic Diane Finley said the CWB would be voluntary.
In their respective debates, Finley and Ritz said the CWB would operate like the Ontario Wheat Board or the Australian Wheat Board, which maintains an export monopoly.
However, Ritz said the CWB would not have the option of retaining exclusive export rights.
Wheat board chair Ken Ritter said the CWB would not survive without its monopoly powers.
“This isn’t an issue that should be decided by party politics in Canada,” he said.
“This is an issue that only prairie farmers can decide through their democratic voting. Why should urban Canadians and those from Ontario get to make that choice for them?”
