The Canadian Wheat Board has sent $135,000 to the Farmer Rail Car Coalition over the past six years to help it operate while it lobbies for acquisition of about 13,000 government grain hopper cars, a CWB director said last week.
An MP critical of the wheat board monopoly immediately said the board should be more open about that so farmers understand how the board uses their money.
During an appearance before the House of Commons agriculture committee Dec. 2, CWB director Ian McCreary said the wheat board believes the coalition proposal is best for farmers. It has granted it $85,000 and loaned it $50,000.
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If the coalition does not win the competition over who gets the cars, the loan will be forgiven.
“I don’t know of any farmer who knows this has happened,” responded Saskatchewan Conservative MP David Anderson, who had asked the question. “There’s a commitment here that farmers should know.”
McCreary said he has talked about it when he has farmer meetings. And he insisted it was a good investment.
The mere presence of the coalition’s proposal to acquire the rail cars and to provide some competition to the railways has resulted in a saving of $1 per tonne in freight rates over the past eight years, he said.
Anderson questioned whether that was accurate.
The coalition said the Saskatchewan government also gave it forgivable loans but it will not say how much money is involved.
