Canola growers miffed at call to give more to CWB

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Published: December 8, 1994

SASKATOON – A form letter asking Ottawa to put more crops under the Canadian Wheat Board caused a flap in Saskatchewan farm circles last week.

The Saskatchewan Canola Growers Association, a group which strongly supports the open market, said in a Nov. 28 press release it was “outraged” to learn that such a letter was being circulated throughout the province by Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.

That came as news to Sask Wheat Pool president Leroy Larsen, who was quizzed about it by reporters during the pool’s annual meeting.

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“I’m not aware of any such letter that’s gone out under my signature or authorization,” said Larsen.

Officials scramble

Pool officials scrambled to find out what was going on and eventually referred reporters to David Bailey, a Glaslyn area farmer and chair of the local pool committee.

Reached at his farm, about 200 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, Bailey said he didn’t know what all the fuss was about.

“This was started by eight producers last spring and it’s been going on since then. I don’t know why all of a sudden they’re getting excited.”

There are two separate form letters addressed to agriculture minister Ralph Goodale. One asks that more grains and oilseeds be put under the board’s jurisdiction. The other asks that the board be given “a stronger mandate.”

But Bailey insisted the campaign isn’t aimed at the canola industry.

“It started out because people are trying to weaken the CWB and it’s about time that people who support the wheat board spoke up,” he said.

And even though he is chair of the Glaslyn pool committee, Bailey said the campaign has nothing to do with the local pool committee or head office: “I don’t know where they got that idea,” he said, adding the letters make no mention of the pool.

Doug Sword, president of the canola growers association, said one of the association’s members reported being given the form letter at a pool meeting and the association decided to put out a press release.

“We should have checked, perhaps, whether it was a local committee meeting and local effort or whether it was head office, although I don’t think, personally, that many local committees do things on their own,” he said.

But the association’s main concern is that farmers who don’t want canola under the wheat board should also make their views known to Goodale.

Disagree on marketing

The two disagree on how canola should be marketed.

Bailey said the benefits of pooling were evident in the fall of 1993. At least half the canola crop was sold before prices jumped because farmers needed cash to pay their bills, he said.

With price pooling, all farmers would have shared in the high prices that came later.

Sword said the canola industry is flourishing under the open market, and added the pool (or any other company) is free to set up a price pooling system for its canola purchases if that’s what its members want. But a mandatory price pool under the wheat board would take away farmers’ freedom.

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Adrian Ewins

Saskatoon newsroom

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