The Canadian Wheat Board has refused a request from the United States government that it turn over a sample of confidential sales contracts for the past three years for an American audit.
And the refusal has drawn a demand from some Great Plains politicians that the U.S. administration threaten to close the border to force the wheat board to “co-operate.”
All of which has CWB chief commissioner Lorne Hehn steaming.
“Get this, the gall,” Hehn fumed during an April 21 appearance before the Senate agriculture committee. The Americans want to audit actual sales contracts “even on third country sales … they get my ire up. U.S. politicians want to weaken us.”
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The saga began in March when, as part of a U.S.-requested audit of the CWB, a senior official from the American government General Accounting Office asked for a five percent sample of wheat board export transactions between Jan. 1, 1995 and Dec. 31, 1997.
The GAO promised the information would be kept secret.
The wheat board quickly rejected the request, arguing the information could easily become public if Congress asked for it. Then CWB competitors would soon have it.
“If we were to release this information, we would be remiss in our obligation to farmers by possibly undermining our long-term relationships with customers,” commissioner Richard Klassen wrote March 26. “Therefore, we are unable to comply with this request.”
Take a stand
Within weeks, Montana congressman Rick Hill demanded that president Bill Clinton’s administration get tough.
The self-styled “representative for all Montana” wrote U.S. trade representative Charlene Barshefsky demanding “quick and decisive action.” North Dakota senator Byron Dorgan did the same.
Either the wheat board complies or the border to grain imports from Canada should be closed, said Hill.
“I assure you that this action would both send a serious message to the Canadian government and tell our farmers and ranchers that the administration will indeed stand up for their interests,” wrote the Montana politician.
Canadian government officials insist that under the North American Free Trade deal and world trade rules, such action would be illegal.
Hill figures the board’s refusal to open its books confirms the suspicions of board enemies.
“The wheat board’s action is not only outrageously wrong but indicates that it may have something to hide,” he wrote. “Above all, it potentially worsens our agricultural trade relations with Canada and further legitimizes the case against the Canadian Wheat Board.”
The board’s letter to Washington, and Hill’s response, made it to Parliament Hill last week when Hill faxed them to Reform MP Jake Hoeppner, a strong critic of the wheat board monopoly.
