On Aug. 18, newly minted federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz called farmer constituent Ken Ritter and suggested they get together for a chat.
The chair of the Canadian Wheat Board quickly agreed, suggesting they meet at CWB head offices in Winnipeg.
“I think the minister has started the process off in the right direction by suggesting a meeting and a tour of the board to get to understand it better,” Ritter said.
He is under no illusion that Ritz has changed his long-standing opposition to the CWB wheat and barley monopoly but he hoped the minister could set aside his personal view to try to find a way to work with the board.
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“The best thing I could see happen is if the minister listens to what we have to say, understand the reality of the CWB and not just the rhetoric around it,” Ritter said Aug. 20. “This has gone way too far. You hear people say that if you support the board somehow you are against what the Conservatives stand for but I don’t see that reality on the ground. There are lots of Conservatives who support the board.”
For his part, Ritz also said he hopes the heat of the debate can be turned down.
“We’ve got to get past this,” he said. “The board says it is making changes and I want to hear about them. We don’t agree on some things but I think there are things we do agree on. We all want to see producers do better. The debate is over the best way to accomplish that.”
He has staked his ground clearly on the side of the monopoly critics, proposing a private member’s bill last year that would allow farmers to bypass the board if they were selling to majority farmer-owned domestic processors. The bill was defeated by the combined opposition that saw it as a stalking horse for dismantling the monopoly.
Now, one of the first decisions Ritz will have to make is whether to appeal the July 31 court decision quashing a government attempt to end the barley monopoly through regulation rather than legislation.
Ritz said he will decide by the end of August.
