Farmers frustrated that initial grain price payments do not reflect current high market levels should blame the Canadian What Board and not the government, says the federal agriculture minister.
“The first application was done improperly so a good portion of the blame for the delay goes right back to the wheat board itself,” agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said in the House of Commons.
In the Commons and at a news conference last week, New Democrat Pat Martin alleged that Ottawa has not approved a wheat board request for a substantially higher initial payment because it does not want to see “fat” CWB cheques arrive in the mail during a wheat board election.
Read Also
Canola support gets mixed response
A series of canola industry support measures announced by the federal government are being met with mixed reviews.
He called agriculture minister Gerry Ritz “minister gerrymander” for his interference in wheat board elections.
“Why will minister gerrymander not give up his ideological crusade to crush the Canadian Wheat Board and stop interfering with free and democratic elections and get those initial payments out to farmers so they can pay their bills?” he asked.
Ritz noted that the government has proposed legislation that among other things would increase the speed of approving CWB requests for payment increases. Because it included changes to the CWB voters list, opposition parties opposed the bill.
But the issue this time is that the CWB proposed an increase in initial payments in early September, withdrew it and made another proposal Sept. 30 that would see initial payments increase between $50 and $70 per tonne.
The typical government turnaround on payment increases is six to eight weeks so the delay comes because of the wheat board decision to re-file its application five weeks ago, said Ritz.
Martin, NDP critic on the wheat board file, insisted at a news conference that a delay in approving higher initial prices was part of a government campaign against the board in the midst of an election for directors.
“I do not hesitate in calling their tactic of interfering with the election process fascistic,” said the Winnipeg MP.
Southern Saskatchewan Conservative MP David Anderson, parliamentary secretary on the CWB file and an ardent opponent of the CWB monopoly, said Martin’s accusations are ridiculous.
Meanwhile, CWB cheques covering interim payments for the 2009-10 crop year are arriving in farm mailboxes as the election process continues. They were sent out Oct. 22.
Last week, the New Democrats also introduced a private member’s bill that would stop MPs from using their office budget to try to influence CWB elections.
In 2008, a number of Conservative MPs used their letterhead and parliamentary budgets to endorse CWB candidates opposed to CWB monopoly through letters sent to constituents.
New Democrat agriculture critic Alex Atamanenko proposed legislation Nov. 3 that would prohibit MPs from using their office budgets to support CWB candidates.
Martin introduced a private member’s bill that would strengthen the powers of the farmer-elected board of directors and reduce the ability of the government to impose its will on the CWB board.
Atamanenko conceded at a news conference that his bill proposing an end to MP interference in CWB elections will have no influence on the current election. The bill has no chance of being debated, never mind approved, for months.
“But I think it sends a signal,” he said.
Ritz called the NDP private member’s bill a “media stunt” that showed how disconnected they are from farmers.
