The Conservative government will use all means necessary to give prairie grain farmers an open market option to the Canadian Wheat Board barley monopoly, prime minister Stephen Harper has vowed.
He told an Oct. 3 news conference in Ottawa that farmers want to be free of the monopoly, although he did not divulge government strategy on the CWB issue.
“I believe that farmers have spoken,” he said. “I believe it is clear what direction the agricultural community is going and I believe they are going to get their way and the government is going to help them get their way.”
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The prime minister said he would not discuss whether he will attempt to amend the Canadian Wheat Board Act in the new parliamentary session that opens Oct. 16. Since Liberals and New Democrats support the monopoly, the minority Conservatives would need the support of the Bloc Québécois to pass the legislation, although it would then hit Liberal resistance in the Senate.
Harper noted that the government has appealed the court ruling that quashed its attempt to end the monopoly through regulatory change.
“The government is going to work through all, any and all means necessary to get that decision implemented,” he said. “I haven’t discussed the parliamentary strategy.”
Political critics immediately denounced Harper’s determination on the issue.
“I really think he is dropping the gauntlet and signaling that he likely will be trying to push something through Parliament,” NDP wheat board critic Pat Martin said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if his mad campaign to abolish the wheat board is one of the foundations he will use to engineer his government’s demise so he can have an election. He is in for the fight of his life.”
Liberal critic Wayne Easter accused Harper of lying to bolster his case against the board.
“The prime minister is in a threatening mood and he’s going to impose his ideology come hell or high water,” said the Prince Edward Island MP. “It’s his right to pursue his agenda but what I didn’t like is his dishonesty.”
Easter took issue with Harper’s reference to the fact that after the court ruled in favour of the monopoly in late July, barley prices fell.
“For people out there who don’t follow the markets, they might believe that but he knows it is a lie because he didn’t finish the story,” said Easter. “He knows that since then, prices have gone up to record levels. The wheat board didn’t cause the price to drop nor is it responsible for the rise. It doesn’t set international prices, just works to get the best price for farmers that it can.”
Easter also complained that Harper’s claim of an “overwhelming” vote in favour of ending the monopoly is misleading because most of those votes were for a referendum option that had the CWB existing as a voluntary marketer.
“That option was false,” said the MP. “In fact, just 13 percent supported Harper’s real intention, which is to get the board out of the market.”
Harper’s political options on the CWB file are limited.
The appeal of the court decision likely will not be decided for months and as long as that judgment stands, Harper’s only option appears to be an amendment to the CWB Act that almost certainly would not make it through Parliament.
Meanwhile, Easter said the Liberals still plan to introduce CWB Act amendments that would end the government’s ability to impose changes to the mandate or the board.
He expects support from other opposition parties that could force the private member’s bill into law if it ever came to a vote.
