WINNIPEG – Philosophies clashed. Economists dueled. Speakers called upon price arguments as old as the gilded ballroom at the historic Fort Garry Hotel.
The first four days of the Western Grain Marketing Panel hearings could have turned into a wrestling match.
But chief panelist Tom Molloy said he heard more light than heat during the first round of presentations on how grain should be sold.
About 25 people from groups as ideologically divided as the National Farmers Union and the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association squared off last week to deliver briefs, answer questions from the panel and cross-examine each other.
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Les Jacobson, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, a Manitoba general farm lobby group, called the experience daunting. “It should give a pretty complete analysis of what the groups that are in front of the panel have on their mind,” he said.
Change wanted
The future role of the Canadian Wheat Board was front and centre in the debate, with most of the nine organizations calling for changes.
However, all but two said they wanted the board to retain its international sales monopoly on barley and wheat. Most groups said they believe the wheat board helps farmers get premiums for their high quality wheat and barley.
Richard Groundwater of the Canadian Grain Commission said the teamwork involved in the single-desk selling system has helped establish that quality. But he added, “no matter what direction the industry chooses for the future, the commission will adapt to provide the most effective quality control system possible.”
Officials from the wheat growers association and United Grain Growers argued farmers should be able to choose whether they sell their grain to the board in a dual market.
“I hope (panelists) do more than just come up with the things there’s consensus on,” said Larry Maguire, president of the wheat growers, who presented a model of a dual market to the group.
Maguire said he was disappointed in the debate. “I heard a lot of posturing,” he said, adding he thought some like-minded organizations staged questions to each other during the cross-examination.
UGG president Ted Allen expressed disappointment at the lack of young people involved.
“I think one of the unfortunate things is that there’s too many tired, old faces from past debates,” he said.
But Wilf Harder, chair of the CWB advisory committee, mocked those who said the board is an outdated agency serving old-fashioned producers.
“We farm too and we do know something about bottom lines, even though we are a bunch of old fogies,” Harder told Kevin Archibald, chair of the wheat growers.
