I am writing to inform producers how efficient a dual market for wheat and barley worked from 1935 to 1943.
It was a strong tool that gave farmers choice. This system put farmers in the driver’s seat. They were able to determine what was best for them and their farms. Choice and competition (were) good for the producer.
The monopoly to sell wheat and barley was created by the federal government in 1943 to keep export sales of wheat to Europe and the domestic price of bread low.
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Wheat prices in the open market were rising rapidly. The Canadian government had promised wheat at a fixed price to Europe. Therefore, every time wheat price rose by one cent per bushel on the open market, it cost the federal government $2.5 million.
This was draining the federal treasury. The government stopped the trading of wheat on the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange on Sept. 27, 1943. It froze the export price of wheat at $1.25 per bu. and the price to the domestic miller at 77 cents per bu.
The federal government created the urban legend that it was protecting the producers from the grain merchants, while in reality the wheat board monopoly was the key component of Ottawa’s cheap food policy. This was done on the backs of the western Canadian farmers.
The historic reality is that the Cana-dian Wheat Board was established not to serve and protect farmers, but to force them to deliver their wheat to the government at a price the government was prepared to pay.
The wheat board monopoly is a total injustice to producers. Not only does it keep food cheap, but it takes away individual freedom when producers market wheat and barley.
Recent studies by the George Morris Centre concluded that the CWB monopoly restricted Western Canada’s economic growth by between $300 million and $1 billion per year.
Removing the monopoly would stimulate value-added industry to the tune of $1.4 billion to $1.8 billion per year, growing employment in the value-added industry from about 8,000 people to approximately 13,000 people to 25,000 people.
The potential for economic growth and job creation by eliminating the CWB’s monopoly is huge. Producers will become the prime economic driver of the industry.
Frank Hudy,Kamsack, Sask.
