A coalition of prairie groups doesn’t claim to have the answers to the debate over the future of the CWB , but it does say it has the questions.
The coalition is campaigning for a plebiscite on the future of the CWB’s single desk.
Last week representatives met with CWB minister Chuck Strahl in Ottawa to press their case for a farmer vote on the board’s future.
They also presented him with their suggestion on how the plebiscite should be worded.
The coalition proposes that farmers be asked to check one of two marketing options on a ballot worded as follows: “I wish to retain the ability to market all wheat, with the continuing exception of feed wheat sold domestically, through the CWB single desk system,” or “I wish to remove the single desk marketing system from the CWB and sell all wheat through an open market system.”
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Similar questions would be asked for barley.
The coalition is made up of Keystone Agricultural Producers, Agricultural Producers of Saskatchewan, Wild Rose Agricultural Producers, the National Farmers Union and the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities.
“The question must avoid misleading phrases that suggest that farmers could make the CWB voluntary and still have the same benefits, features and programs that the organization is able to provide today,” the coalition told Strahl.
It said each voter should have one vote regardless of the volume of business they do with the board.
Coalition members said Strahl declined to commit to a plebiscite and would not agree to the proposed questions. The importance of how a plebiscite question is worded was made clear in the CWB’s annual producer survey released this past spring.
Given a three-way choice, 45 percent favoured single desk wheat marketing, 47 percent favoured dual marketing in which farmers could choose between the CWB and the open market, and seven percent opted for a fully open market.
However, given a two-way choice between the single desk and the open market, 63 percent want the single desk and 30 percent an open market.
The survey showed 75 percent want the future of the agency to be determined through a vote by farmers.
The survey of 1,303 permit book holders, conducted by Innovative Research Group, is accurate to within 2.7 percentage points, 19 times out 20.
