Here we go again. Some prairie farmers cannot ship their grain while grain companies and their friends blame the railways for not getting the grain to port. After months of railway lobbying, the federal government is pushing new transportation legislation, claiming that Bill C-49 will punish the railways for neglecting grain shipments. Yet this legislation […] Read more
Stories by Ken Larsen
CWB did not put wheat farmers in jail
On Aug. 1, the prime minister made a commitment to pardon farmers who broke the Customs Act by refusing to present grain export licences to Canada Customs. Several of them went to jail and a gullible media took their word when they said they were sent there by the Canadian Wheat Board. That the prime […] Read more
Subsidy questions
The article by Brian Cross on some farmers’ impressions of grain marketing on both sides of the border (Farmer sees pros, cons, to both marketing systems, WP Sept. 29) was worth reading. (However), the article on page 32 that week, “Obama determined to end $5 billion U.S. farm subsidy,” (raises the question of whether) claims […] Read more
No mandate
In December 2010, the results of the hotly contested Canadian Wheat Board directors’ elections were announced. Pro-single desk farmers came within 31 votes of taking 100 percent of the available seats. This is a very strong message to the Harper Conservatives that farmers want to keep the status quo on the wheat board. In March […] Read more
Odious legislation
In your editor’s notebook (Opinion, Jan. 27) you imply that Alberta’s landowners were not paying attention to the legislation passed by the Progressive Conservatives. Many of us certainly were. In response to landowner lawsuits against the government, the courts ruled regulatory bodies like the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board had to be fair and impartial […] Read more
Barley and the CWB
In a public commentary in Johnston’s Daily blog, Nov. 1, Allan Johnston reprints a claim by John De Pape stating the problem with the CWB single desk in barley is the international price is not translated into the domestic price. To directly quote Mr. De Pape: “This means that the local price of barley to […] Read more
