An Alberta Reform MP last week suggested that in light of the barley plebiscite result, his province should declare it will refuse to accept the authority of the Canadian Wheat Board.
Vegreville MP Leon Benoit said in an interview that using the political system to try to convince the Liberals to give grain farmers a marketing choice is a waste of time.
He was reacting to the barley plebiscite in which 62.9 percent of voting barley growers opted for a board monopoly over a total open market.
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“It is a meaningless result because farmers weren’t given the choice they wanted, which is dual market,” Benoit said in a March 27 interview from his riding.
“I don’t think we should waste our time trying to change this government’s mind because they have a mind-set that is interventionist. I think Alberta should say it is no longer under the wheat board and then negotiate a new arrangement.”
In the aftermath of the vote, the Reform party opinion generally was that it resolved nothing because dual marketing, a voluntary wheat board operating alongside private grain companies, was not on the ballot.
On March 25 when he announced the result in Winnipeg, agriculture minister Ralph Goodale defended his refusal to offer a dual-marketing option by repeating that he does not believe it would work.
As well, “if you had more than two questions on the ballot, it would be very difficult to discern a definitive result in a three or four question scenario.”
Reform agriculture critic Elwin Hermanson said he expects the wheat board, and Goodale’s refusal to offer a dual market option, will be a good issue for Reform in the Saskatoon-area riding he is contesting.
“The problem is not going to go away and this vote did nothing to clear it up,” he said. “In fact, I see a lot more unhappiness from farmers who didn’t think all or nothing are the only choices.”
He said the Reform promise of a voluntary board will be attractive to many rural voters.
In fact, Benoit said a poll of farmers in his Vegreville riding and neighboring Beaver River showed the vast majority of wheat and barley growers would prefer a dual market.
“It is quite clear farmers already have made that decision, so now, the debate isn’t whether to do that but how,” said Benoit.
New Democrats differ
The federal New Democratic Party had a different interpretation of the plebiscite result.
Leader Alexa McDonough said the Liberals had created the crisis over the wheat board by equivocating. Farmers finally had a chance to voice their opinion and resoundingly supported the wheat board.
“Instead of collaborating with corporations to try to gut the wheat board, the Liberals should have been listening to farmers and working with them from the beginning,” she said in a statement released by the party after the vote result was announced.
