Last week’s historic parliamentary vote to approve in principle Bill C-18 to end the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly was a deeply personal moment for some of the MPs involved.
Ted Menzies, southern Alberta MP and minister of state for finance, southern Saskatchewan MP David Anderson and veteran Prince Edward Island MP Wayne Easter have been battling the issue for decades. The Western Producer asked them about the experience.
Ted Menzies -Minister of State (Finance)
Q. You have long been a CWB critic and you were asked to second the bill to end the single desk. How did that feel?
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A:I was very excited to be offered the opportunity by minister (Gerry) Ritz to second the legislation. I have been waiting for almost 40 years to be able to speak to this piece of legislation.
Forty years ago, I had no idea I would be a member of Parliament involved in this. I was a farmer and I enjoyed it, but one challenge that always frustrated me was the fact that some of my production that I made all of the decisions about and took all the risks on and yet I had no control over what price I would receive, unlike with my other crops.
Q: Presumably other farmers had that frustration but didn’t necessarily get politically involved to try to change it. You became president of Western Wheat Growers and then a member of Parliament. What drove you to take time from your farm for politics?
A:I was passionate about it because so much was in my control in my business. I could control what I planted, what equipment I had, my costs, but I couldn’t control the income side of it for two of my significant crops.
I was also frustrated because I think we have lost out on developing new wheat varieties because there has been little incentive since the wheat board held back on introducing some new varieties.
Q: When you rose to vote Oct. 24, knowing your side would win after 40 years, what were you thinking?
A:Well, there wasn’t a tear in my eye, but I was happy. I’m sorry I didn’t have more time in my speech to recognize some of the pioneers in this battle.
One was Charlie Mayer, who as minister managed to get oats out of the board and as I recall, the sky didn’t fall. And the oats industry did quite well afterwards. I think it was an important advance.
I did polling on this in my riding in 2008 because I knew one day we would fulfill our promise to end the monopoly.
The result was 98.5 percent support for marketing freedom. That is a mandate.
David Anderson -Parliamentary Secretary For The Canadian Wheat Board
Q: How long have you been involved in the issue?
A:This has been an issue for me since I was on the farm in the early ’80s.
I’ve always thought we could market our other crops so why not wheat, and there were examples early in my years when it was clear we could have done better than we did through the Canadian Wheat Board.
One of them was one fall when we had frozen grain and we actually had made arrangements to sell it to a company in Montana.
The company called us back and said that they didn’t want our grain because they were getting a better deal through the wheat board and they made arrangements with them.
I actually followed the trucks from our own elevator to Montana where they took a lower price for it. Those kinds of things inspire you to get involved and fight for what you think are your rights.
Q: How much did the CWB issue figure in your decision to run for politics in 2000?
rate would have been one issue. And certainly the wheat board was a major factor when I was thinking about that.
Q: What was it like to be part of the vote Oct. 24 to get rid of the monopoly after all these years of fighting it?
A:I owe Randy White, a former Reform MP, some recognition because when I came down here, I asked him what you had to do to be successful and he said you should pick one issue on which you are seen to have some expertise. I decided the wheat board would be one of those issues that were key to my career, and it has been.
The other night, there was a sense of relief when we passed the first hurdle of getting the legislation through the House, but of course we haven’t accomplished anything yet. We have to get the bill through.
We have to establish some stability for farmers by Jan. 1. When we get the bill through, I will be very happy.
It was not emotional for me because I made the determination I would not celebrate anything until we have the bill passed. The emotion will come at royal assent.
Wayne Easter -International Trade Critic
Q: Although you are a Prince Edward Island farmer and MP, you have been on the wheat board file a long time. How long?
A:I have been on the wheat board file probably back to 1974. That started with National Farmers Union youth, president of the NFU and then as an MP.
When I would go west with the NFU in the early days, there would be seminars about the marketing system and the role of co-operatives and collective action, so I was steeped in that stuff .
Q: So how did you feel being part of a Commons vote that you knew would go against the wheat board single desk?
A:It is not just the single desk. It is all the ways the wheat board gave farmers power, not just in international markets but also in dealing with producer cars, the railways and some many other areas. At the core of the system working is the work of the Canadian Wheat Board.
My feeling at the vote was absolute disheartenment at not only the loss of the wheat board single desk but could accept that but it is so disheartening to see the way this is unfolding and I think the country as a whole will be the loser.
Q: You came into to federal politics from the NFU as not just a great wheat board supporter but also a supporter of the Crow rate.
Now, you have watched your own Liberal government get rid of the Crow and now you are part of a Parliament that is ending the single desk.
Does it affect your faith in the political process?
A:I think what it spells out is that regardless of what party is in power, the lack of political clout of the farm community.
On potash, the government protected Canadian interests. This is the direct opposite. Is it just because farmers are scattered through small communities?
That’s what I find discouraging about the whole political process, that the little guy seems to have no muscle and when he has some muscle through something like the Canadian Wheat Board, it is taken away.
