CALGARY – While Ottawa wrangles with an upcoming separatist vote in Quebec, Alberta is facing its own ground-breaking plebiscite that asks farmers how they want to sell their wheat and barley.
Two ballot questions, one for wheat and one for barley, will ask whether the voter is in favor of being allowed to sell barley or wheat to any buyer, including the wheat board in domestic and export markets. The plebiscite is scheduled for Nov. 13-24.
The province’s agriculture minister Walter Paszkowski said the Alberta vote will exert pressure on the federal government to reform the Canadian Wheat Board, which holds a monopoly on wheat and barley export sales in Canada. He said he doesn’t want the board dismantled but wants farmers to have more choices in selling.
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The wheat board is under federal jurisdiction, but Paszkowski argues an Alberta vote carries a lot of weight since the province grows more than 50 percent of the country’s barley. It is also a major wheat producer.
For groups like the Western Canadian Barley Growers and Wheat Growers associations, the vote was welcomed. Others like Alberta Wheat Pool are more cautious.
They agree the vote should carry a lot of weight with the federal government and some foresee a prairie-wide vote if Alberta chooses the open market over the wheat board monopoly selling system.
Jack Gorr, of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers, farms near Three Hills, Alta.
“The plebiscite is not binding on the government, but it does allow farmers to express their opinion both on the barley and on wheat,” he said. “Unfortunately with plebiscites you don’t always get the right answer because you don’t always have the information. Voting is an emotional thing.”
Alberta Wheat Pool president Alex Graham said pool members can make their own decision on how to vote, adding the pool can function with or without a central selling agency.
Power in size
“We support the role of the board as an organization. We may suggest to our members that the board is the right way to market Canadian grain. When we’re out in the world competing it’s much better to have one organization competing for Canada than more than one,” said Graham.
United Grain Growers’ manager of policy development, Blair Rutter said his company is pleased with the vote. UGG is a member of the Market Choices Alliance which has lobbied for wheat board reform. The company will not take an active stance in the vote this time round.
“We hold the view that farmers should have more marketing options but it’s up to the Alberta farmers to decide whether they support an open market or whether they wish to continue with compulsory marketing. We’ll stand by whatever the Alberta farmers decide,” said Rutter.
Tim Harvie, Alberta Barley Commission chair and a partner in the market alliance, is confident Alberta will say yes to change.
“Surveys have shown that farmers want change…. There’s going to be change. It’s just a matter of when,” he said.
Any farmer who has grown wheat or barley in 1993, 1994 or 1995, has a financial interest in the crop and is older than 18 may participate through a mail-in ballot or by voting at any Alberta Agriculture office. Registration will be by individual declaration and voters may vote on both questions.
