The Conservative government plans to expand the scope of access-to-information legislation to cover all but confidential commercial information at the Canadian Wheat Board, says a government member.
It just isn’t quite ready to do it yet.
“The intention certainly is to expand the scope of the information act to apply to the board,” Saskatchewan MP David Anderson said April 13. “It could come through an amendment later in this session.”
National Farmers Union president Stewart Wells sees it as another weapon CWB detractors will use.
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“I’m not surprised that people who have spent time attacking the board would want to take that direction,” he said April 17. “I’m not sure it is appropriate given that the government has announced it is severing financial ties.”
He also suggested that critics would use the information act to “dig around through internal board e-mails, take bits and pieces and spin it as they want. We (the NFU) haven’t given a lot of thought to the ramifications but I do see some dangers.”
While in opposition, Conservative MPs including Anderson regularly called for reversal of the CWB’s exemption from provisions of the access-to-information law. He now is parliamentary secretary to agriculture minister Chuck Strahl with responsibility for the Canadian Wheat Board.
It was expected this would be proposed last week when the Conservative government unveiled its first piece of legislation – the massive and complex Accountability Act that aims to reform areas as wide-ranging as ethical conduct in government, political financing and transparency in government.
The latter point meant the extension of information rules to a number of crown corporations.
The CWB was absent from the bill.
However, Anderson quickly overcame his disappointment in a conversation with treasury board minister John Baird, who oversees the Accountability Act.
“The minister told me that there is every intention to make that change but there just wasn’t time to get it into this bill,” said the MP in an interview. “Because there is no intention of revealing commercially confidential information, it is taking some time to get the wording just right, but we will do it, perhaps by bringing a government amendment forward when the bill is at committee.”
He said farmers who pay the board’s bills have a right to find out how much the board spends on political advocacy, on public opinion polling and on executive costs.
“It is these kinds of non-marketing questions that I think will be interesting to producers,” said Anderson. “They now have an Ottawa office. How much do they spend on lobbying in Ottawa? The government has some questions about the board’s Ottawa lobbying since it has access to the government through a minister.”
Meanwhile, the Accountability Act will lead to management changes at the Canadian Dairy Commission.
The proposed act would amend CDC legislation to separate the position of chief executive officer from chair of the board.
It mirrors recommendations made several years ago in a Treasury Board report on crown corporation governance.
At present, John Core is both CEO and chair. Under the new rules, he would become CEO.
Chantel Paul, head of communications for the CDC, said that is the management structure required by the commission’s legislation since 1966. She said it is unclear who the government would appoint as chair of the board.
There are two other commissioners vice-chair Carol Harrison from the processing industry and Jean Grégoire, former president of Dairy Farmers of Canada.
Critics of the CDC were hoping the government would force the commission to activate an industry advisory committee that is supposed to operate but has not been active for years.
