SASKATOON – The Canada-U.S. joint commission on grains is being torn by controversy over what some Canadian officials describe as unfair and underhanded tactics by American members of the commission.
At least one Canadian farm leader said the Canadian commissioners should resign and abandon the process.
“As far as I’m concerned, the Canadian blue ribbon commissioners would do their country and themselves a very good service by just walking away from the panel and saying ‘that’s it’,” said Wilfred Harder, chair of the Canadian Wheat Board’s producer advisory committee.
Read Also
Russian wheat exports start to pick up the pace
Russia has had a slow start for its 2025-26 wheat export program, but the pace is starting to pick up and that is a bearish factor for prices.
At issue is a report on CWB selling practices that was prepared for U.S. members of the panel, who earlier this year asked the U.S. department of agriculture to prepare an analysis of CWB selling prices in various export markets.
The report was given to the U.S. commissioners on March 30, but was not made available to the Canadian members as they prepared the panel’s interim report.
They received copies of it in late July, at about the same time it was leaked to U.S. politicians and wheat industry lobby groups and made public. The U.S. groups said it proved the wheat board was an unfair trader.
Considered quitting
The resulting controversy turned last week’s regularly scheduled meeting of the commission into an intense session at which some Canadian members questioned whether the commission could continue its work.
In the end, a decision was made to go ahead, but not before some heated exchanges among the 10 panel members.
“Given that so much work has been done already, obviously the Canadian commissioners were reluctant to throw that away, although they were tempted,” said one Canadian grain industry official familiar with last week’s events.
Doug Livingstone, a commission member from Alberta, said the Canadian members made it clear they were “extremely unhappy,” especially because the report was released before the commission had a chance to review it.
CWB dumping charged
“This one went into the public realm and by itself is damaging,” he said.
The USDA document purports to show the wheat board is guilty of dumping by selling wheat to export customers at a price below the domestic Canadian price.
While the reports’ analysis and conclusions have come under fire from the board and other groups, just as big an issue for some was the fact that the U.S. members didn’t immediately turn it over to their Canadian counterparts before the interim report was written.
“That definitely demonstrates dirty pool,” said wheat board information officer Brian Stacey.
Herbert Karst, a U.S. commission member from Montana, said he regrets that his Canadian colleagues are upset but he also said too much is being made of the whole affair.
“I’m deeply concerned about the importance that the Canadian people are attaching to this study,” he said. “It wasn’t meant to be a definitive study. As far as I’m concerned it’s just one more piece of data for our process.”
Harder said the incident shows there is no point trying to negotiate anything in good faith with the U.S., adding that the American government and wheat industry groups won’t be satisfied until the wheat board is eliminated.
