The battle lines continued to take shape this week in what is likely to be a long and bitter dispute over the future of the Canadian Wheat Board.
Last week’s announcement by CWB chair Allen Oberg that the board will hold its own farmer plebiscite to gauge support for single-desk marketing drew immediate support from wheat board proponents and immediate criticism from open market advocates, including federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz.
In a June 29 speech to Grain Growers of Canada, Ritz made no secret of the fact that he was not happy with the board’s latest effort to force Ottawa’s hand.
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He also reiterated that the Harper government will not stray from its plan to end the wheat board’s marketing monopoly.
“Once again, the Canadian Wheat Board is failing to recognize that every single farmer should have the right to choose how they market their grain,” Ritz said.
Current legislation requires the government to hold a producer plebiscite before changing the board’s marketing powers.
However, Ritz has indicated that the majority Conservative government intends to introduce new legislation this fall that will end the CWB monopoly.
Speaking to reporters on June 28, Oberg said the wheat board will hold the plebiscite regardless of Ottawa’s plans.
“They (the federal Conservatives) say the federal election results are a mandate from prairie farmers to dismantle our single desk marketing structure for wheat and barley. We disagree,” Oberg said.
“The minister always (says) that he wants to put farmers first and listen to their wishes. This plebiscite will be an excellent opportunity for him to do exactly just that.”
Details of the plebiscite are still being ironed out, but Oberg said farmers who have sold wheat or barley through the board during the past five years will be receiving ballots within the next few weeks.
Results should be available this fall, before federal legislation to end the board’s monopoly is introduced.
Oberg said 60,000 to 70,000 producers will be eligible to participate, but already there are signs that some producers will not take part.
Last week, the Western Canadian Wheat Growers issued its own statement encouraging prairie farmers to boycott the CWB vote.
“They (the CWB) should be developing a business plan that seizes on the new opportunities that will be created, instead of taking money from farmers to wage a futile political campaign against the federal government,” said WCWG president Kevin Bender.
Pro-board groups wasted no time lining up behind the CWB.
The Alberta Soft White Wheat Commission said it opposes plans to change the board’s mandate without first holding a plebiscite.
A letter distributed by the National Farmers Union called Ottawa’s plans an “abusive action” that would “strip farmers of their democratic right.”
The wheat board had revenues of roughly $5.2 billion in 2009-10, but Ritz told Grain Growers of Canada that single desk marketing has outlived its usefulness.
“We know that the global potential for wheat, durum and barley is high, but the monopoly of the Canadian Wheat Board is standing in the way.”
