OTTAWA – Agriculture minister Ralph Goodale has promised to abide by the results of the February prairie plebiscite on the future of the Canadian Wheat Board’s barley jurisdiction.
“We are going to move on the results of this vote,” Goodale said in a Dec. 5 interview. “At the moment, I do not have a scenario in mind that would prevent the implementation of the vote.”
In the weeks since he announced that barley farmers will have a vote on the issue in late February, Goodale’s critics have been demanding that he commit himself to following the wishes of farmers.
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The minister has been reluctant to say he will be bound by the vote. Instead, he has said he would find a majority vote “persuasive” and “compelling”.
Last week in the House of Commons, Alberta Reform MP Leon Benoit said Goodale appears to be trying to leave himself room to reject the result if farmers do not vote as the government wishes.
“The minister of agriculture will not announce whether the plebiscite will be binding or what percentage of voters will be required in order to carry the barley plebiscite,” Benoit complained. “Would we not all like to be able to pick our 6/49 numbers after the draw?”
Goodale’s immediate response outside the Commons was to say he expected the vote to be credible because the question is clear and he expects a voter turnout of more than 80 percent.
But still, he would not promise to implement the results.
“I don’t think it is appropriate, from the point of view of the machinery of government, to absolutely lock in a position on a hypothesis before the fact,” he said. “What I have said is that assuming a solid level of turnout and considering the fact it is a clear-cut question, I will find the results to be very compelling.”
Later, in a second interview, Goodale said he wanted to try to clear up the confusion about the status of the vote. He said he would question the result if it was close and fewer than 50 percent of eligible farmers voted.
“But I do not expect that to be a problem,” he said. “I honestly cannot imagine a realistic situation in which we would not move on the vote.”
The government expects to send ballots to prairie barley producers in early February, to be mailed in during the final two weeks of the month and then counted in early March. The result likely will be announced by mid-March.
Goodale has said if the majority of barley farmers want the open market to replace the Canadian Wheat Board, he will make it happen by adding to Canadian Wheat Board Act amendments that will be wending their way through Parliament during the winter.
Farmers will be offered a stark choice – support the wheat board as the monopoly marketer of all barley exports and domestic sales for malting barley or support open market sales for all barley.
