Farmers will be selling wheat through a single desk Canadian Wheat Board for at least the next 21 months, says CWB minister Chuck Strahl.
The minister pledged last week there will be no change in the board’s single desk authority before the end of the 2007-08 crop year.
“For the next crop year, when it comes to wheat, farmers should count on marketing their product through the CWB,” he told a media conference call Nov. 3.
The minister’s statement is in line with the recommendation of the government’s task force on grain marketing that the board’s monopoly on wheat exports and sales for domestic human consumption be abolished as of Aug. 1, 2008.
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However, it represents the first time Strahl has set a timeline on the government’s plans for wheat.
The government will hold a plebiscite in January on the future of the single desk for barley, and has said it will move quickly to implement an open market if that side wins, but it has made no announcement on whether it will hold a similar vote for wheat.
Strahl said that’s because he has no plans at the moment to end the single desk for wheat.
“I’m not about to ask a question on wheat when I have no plans at this time to make a move on that.”
CWB chair Ken Ritter said the minister has made confusing statements about wheat, saying at times that the government will make good on its election promise to end the wheat monopoly and at times that nothing will happen at this time or in the foreseeable future.
“I’m taking him at his word that nothing is going to happen this crop year or next crop year with wheat,” Ritter said, adding he assumes the Conservative government will eventually move on wheat.
Ritter said the announcement of the barley plebiscite has set a precedent that a vote would also have to be held before any change to wheat marketing.
During a meeting between Strahl and other federal officials and senior CWB officials in Winnipeg Nov. 3, the board also urged the government to be careful in its public comments.
“It’s pretty important (Strahl) realize that statements that are made can have a direct impact on the marketplace,” he said. “We certainly hope he will be cautious with the language on this and I think he understands that.”
Strahl’s comments on the timetable for wheat are bound to disappoint farmers and farm organizations that have urged the government to implement an open market for both wheat and barley on Aug. 1, 2007.
And it will do little to reassure those who want to retain the single desk, given that the minister gave no indication that Ottawa is backing away from its plan to end the board’s monopoly, merely saying it won’t happen in the near future.
Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter, a strong supporter of the single desk, said he doesn’t put much stock in what the government says.
“I wouldn’t take any comfort in anything they say because they have stretched the law, they are not abiding by the CWB Act, they have a gag order on the board and are appointing avowed anti-wheat board people as directors,” he said.
He said the government probably realizes it can’t win a plebiscite on wheat and may be holding back the hopes of winning a majority government, repealing the act and imposing an open market without a vote.
