THE LOSS of the Canadian Wheat Board would be a significant blow to western farmers and to Western Canada’s economy, if it happens.
The key issues related to the CWB’s future are not about giving farmers a choice in grain marketing. That’s just smoke and mirrors.
Producers have always had choice. The CWB is not a monopoly, even though it is often described as such. Farmers traditionally have had the right to sell grain to their neighbours or anyone else they want to, in competition with the CWB and their neighbours.
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The wheat board’s ability to gather most of the grain on the Prairies has given it tremendous marketing ability, and as a seller of grain, that high volume has meant the highest average prices for all producers. Some people occasionally get more than the CWB, but that is not common.
Organic producers can, but they represent a small segment of what is grown.
Ending the CWB’s major marketing ability will mean lower income for virtually everybody in the long term. That’s not just producers; that includes many businesses that rely on producers.
So, why get rid of the wheat board?
One reason is the ever-present self-centredness that shreds the fabric of our society. The West was built on the understanding that people need to work together if they are going to survive. That is still true. Most people have forgotten it or ignore it.
Instead of asking, “what’s in this for us?” people tend to ask, “what’s in this for me?” That is a profound shift in thinking.
The other reason for ending the wheat board is the federal government’s willingness to appease American interests. Remember the disaster in Canada’s softwood lumber industry?
American grain companies have complained about and harassed the CWB for years. Simply put, they just cannot market their products as well as the CWB, and they know it, and they resent it.
American companies have already expressed their excitement about CWB’s pending demise but if they can take over Canadian grain marketing, they will not offer the long-term income to farmers that the CWB can. They will not offer season-long price stability, which is as important as price itself.
There will be no final payments or producer cars, nor will there be the delivery and payment choices available through the CWB.
But will the CWB’s death come about?
The gutting of the board can probably be pushed through the House of Commons. Conservative party MPs can almost do it. That’s if they forsake many people who elected them in order to follow the party’s individualist ideology.
Getting Senate approval will be more difficult. Canada’s Senate, when working well, tends to focus on long-term interests of Canadians more than short-term interests of a political party.
Still, it will take hard work by many people to keep the CWB alive.
Rob Brown is a former agricultural writer and broadcaster now doing studies in ethics. He can be reached at rbcomm@sasktel.net.
