KINDERSLEY, Sask. – If you farm in Peace River country and want to tell the grain marketing review panel what you think about the future of the Canadian Wheat Board, start saving your pennies now.
The panel is holding two weeks of formal public hearings in Winnipeg, and only in Winnipeg, in mid-March.
A return economy ticket from Grande Prairie to Winnipeg costs $1,445.50. If you can spare a few extra days and stay over a Saturday night, it will cost you $688.78, plus a hotel room, meals and a cab ride or two.
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It won’t be quite as expensive an outing if you farm near Calgary, even less if you’re from the Saskatoon area. But the effect is the same, says National Farmers Union president Nettie Wiebe.
“Only organizations with money will be able to be there in person,” she said.
The likely absence of grassroots farmers means the hearings will be unbalanced, said Wiebe, with well-financed commodity groups and the private grain trade telling the panel that single-desk selling and price pooling have to go.
“You’ll see quite an unbalanced representation of what is out there in the farm community,” Wiebe said, adding she hopes the panelists are astute enough to realize that.
The panel will hold formal hearings from March 11-14 and March 18-22 in the Manitoba capital. That is the only opportunity people will have to stand in front of the full panel and give their opinion.
That didn’t go over too well with farmers attending the panel’s town hall meeting here.
“In my mind that implies that the major institutional and corporate players will be heard more than producer farmers,” said Ken Ritter of Major, Sask.
Go where the farmers are
Another farmer in the audience said the panel should hold hearings in Saskatchewan, since the province produces 55 percent of the prairies’ export grain.
Panel member John Pearson, a vice-president of Alberta Wheat Pool, said the panel has limited resources and it’s simply more economical and efficient to hold all the hearings in one location. Winnipeg is the obvious choice.
“All the major players in the grain industry are in Winnipeg a lot of the time anyway,” he said.
Panel members also say it would be difficult to ensure that all presenters are subjected to the same cross-examination if the hearings are held in a number of locations.
Murray Cormack, the panel’s executive director, said if it becomes clear the current set-up will cause serious hardships, it may reconsider.
Anyone wanting to present briefs must notify the panel by Feb. 2. Copies must be submitted by Feb. 23. People can submit briefs without appearing at the hearings.
To do so they can call the Western Grain Marketing panel at 204-984-1059; fax; 204-984-1034; or write to the panel at 2470-350 Main Street, Winnipeg, Man. R3C 3Z3.
