Results of the barley plebiscite should be known by mid to late March, says the man in charge of organizing the vote.
“We will tabulate the votes the week of March 10 and that should take some days,” said Craig Fossey of the Winnipeg-based consulting company KPMG, which won the contract to administer the process.
“I would assume from an integrity perspective, we would want to announce the vote publicly as soon as it is available.”
He said the plebiscite will cost the government close to $250,000 plus the expense of running advertisements.
Read Also
China’s grain imports have slumped big-time
China purchased just over 20 million tonnes of wheat, corn, barley and sorghum last year, that is well below the 60 million tonnes purchased in 2021-22.
Information is beginning to be released on how farmers can register their view on whether barley exports and domestic sales of malting barley should be a private market affair or under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Wheat Board.
Who is eligible
By the end of January, Fossey said, a package of information will be sent to all 80,000 or so eligible farmers who have grown barley during the past three years.
The package will contain information on the voting process, plus a ballot and a return envelope.
Farmers will have to mail the ballot by Feb. 28 to have their vote count.
Ads are running across the Prairies urging barley growers who do not have a wheat board permit book to prepare a sworn affidavit confirming they have grown the crop.
“This, of course, will be the hardest group to reach and to count,” said Fossey in a Jan. 10 interview.
Crop insurance records will be used to try to identify some of the eligible farmers who market outside the wheat board. It will be up to them to get on the voter’s list.
Fossey said the materials being sent to farmers will be cleared by Agriculture Canada officials for accuracy. However, there will be no attempt to distribute political information outlining the pros and cons of the two options.
In Ottawa, Agriculture Canada official Howard Migie said the government considered including in the pre-vote package arguments prepared by both sides, as happened during a vote almost a quarter century ago on whether to market rapeseed through the board.
“That won’t happen,” he said. “There just isn’t the time.”
Fossey said the votes of each farmer will remain confidential but there will be a code on each envelope to ensure only eligible farmers cast a vote and that no one is voting twice.
“Our role is really to administer a fair process.”
When the results are announced, they will be the overall prairie-wide vote. He said there will be no information about the provincial split.
