BANFF, Alta. – It’s time to stop tinkering with Canada’s grain marketing system and go for massive change all at once, says Walter Paszkowski.
Alberta’s agriculture minister said his department was completely overhauled within a year. The same swift action is possible on a national scale.
“We should grab this whole thing and make all changes holistically to rail, the terminals and marketing,” he said during the recent Canada Grains Council meeting.
Altering the system on a piecemeal basis is not working because there is no sense as to how each change affects other elements of the industry, he told reporters.
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While Paszkowski doesn’t object to the Western Grain Marketing panel hearings that traveled the Prairies this winter, the long time frame for a final report is an example of a system that doesn’t respond quickly enough to change.
“The two-year time frame for this grain marketing panel to come forward with results is not acceptable,” he said.
Alberta is pushing for reform from many directions.
In his speech to the grain council, he said the Alberta justice department is examining the Canadian Wheat Board Act to see if it can be challenged on a constitutional basis.
Alberta isn’t trying to force the abolition of the wheat board, he said.
“Our concern is that with the presence of the board as a monopoly buyer, farmers have no option on how they market their wheat or barley.
“If we don’t make significant changes that are required to the wheat board, ultimately people will say we don’t need it any longer.”
His department is also considering whether to join as intervenors in the court challenge to the act, led by the Western Barley Growers and Alberta Barley Commission. Along with individual farmers listed as plaintiffs, they claim the act violates farmers’ rights to market their grain as they choose.
