SASKATOON – When Ralph Goodale took his seat at the microphone last week to announce the government’s plans for the Canadian Wheat Board, it marked a key moment in the history of the 61-year-old marketing agency.
Since the day it was born, July 5, 1935, the board has had its supporters and detractors.
In fact, just months after the board’s creation, the newly elected Liberal government made clear its intention to get rid of the agency and return to a free market system. The board’s role was drastically reduced for a couple of years, but the outbreak of the Second World War gave the agency a second wind and it has been around ever since.
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But probably never has the debate surrounding the board been as passionate and at times as mean-spirited, as it has over the past few years.
There is no single moment that marked the beginning of this new era, but certainly the 1989 decision by former agriculture minister Charlie Mayer to take oats away from the board signalled that times were changing.
In the early 1990s, a small but committed group of farmers in southern Alberta began calling for the right to sell their barley directly to buyers in the U.S., without going through the Canadian Wheat Board.
Dozens of meetings, speeches, opinion polls, studies and news conferences later, Mayer announced in June 1993 that farmers and grain companies would be able to sell barley to the U.S. in competition with the wheat board. The so-called continental market was eventually overturned after a legal challenge by the three prairie pools.
But what really triggered the intense pressure of the past two years was probably the U.S. Export Enhancement Program.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the U.S. government subsidized overseas exports of wheat and durum, creating domestic shortages and driving prices up at elevators in the northern states well above world levels.
The U.S. became an island of high prices, and a lot of Canadian farmers, particularly those near the border, began eyeing those U.S. markets with envy. The wheat board was also selling to the U.S. but was being cautious, fearing a negative political reaction from farmers south of the border if Canadian imports got too high.
Before long, some of those farmers were challenging the law by hauling grain across the border without the proper documents. Court cases ensued and border demonstrations gained national media attention.
Panel appointed
In 1995 agriculture minister Ralph Goodale announced he would appoint a panel to conduct a comprehensive review of grain marketing issues and make recommendations for change.
The panel released its report on July 9, 1996, and made a variety of recommendations. The most controversial included ending the board’s role as single-desk seller of feed barley, unlicensed wheat and organic wheat. It also recommended allowing farmers to sell at least 25 percent of their wheat outside the board.
Those recommendations triggered an outpouring of support for the board in the form of rallies and thousands of letters to Goodale, in the weeks leading up to last week’s announcement.
