The federal government says it is now committed to a plebiscite on wheat marketing, but it isn’t saying when the vote will be held.
The government is already holding a barley plebiscite, with voting to begin Jan. 31.
Canadian Wheat Board minister Chuck Strahl had in recent months refused to make a commitment to holding a similar vote on wheat, saying the government had no plans to change the wheat marketing system and so there was no reason to hold a plebiscite.
But that changed Jan. 16 when Strahl announced that a plebiscite on wheat marketing “will be held at an appropriate time.”
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In an interview later, Strahl said that doesn’t mean there is anything imminent in regard to changing the wheat marketing system.
He decided to promise a wheat plebiscite to assure farmers that their vote in the barley plebiscite will have no impact on wheat.
“Some people kept saying a vote for the open market on barley means the end of the wheat board,” he said. “I’m trying to correct that, and wanted to reassure people about our commitment to listen democratically to farmers.”
CWB chair Ken Ritter welcomed the minister’s pledge to hold a wheat plebiscite, saying the board’s position has always been that farmers should decide the future of the marketing agency.
But he emphasized that any plebiscite has to offer a clear choice with a fair and unambiguous question. A three-option question, such as the barley question announced Jan. 22, doesn’t do that, he added.
“You either have a single desk or you don’t,” Ritter said in an interview. “Trying to colour it up with other vague possibilities doesn’t give a clear choice to farmers.”
The barley plebiscite asks farmers to choose from among three options: retaining the CWB with its existing single desk powers, providing farmers with a choice between selling to a CWB without single desk powers or any other buyer, and an open market with no CWB.
Ritter said the second choice offers farmers the unrealistic option of the board competing in an open market.
Also, offering three options could make it difficult to assess the outcome.
“How would you interpret the results? If no option gets a majority, it’s just more confusing.”
When the vote is over, said Ritter, it has to be clear what farmers want to happen.
Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association president Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel said her organization is disappointed with Strahl’s promise to hold a wheat plebiscite.
“On principle we don’t accept the idea that decisions on how individuals sell their grain should be subject to a vote,” she said, adding the organization will nevertheless participate in a plebiscite campaign on wheat.
She supports the three-option question for barley and wants a similar question for a wheat vote.
National Farmers Union president Stewart Wells said Strahl’s promise to hold a wheat vote is simply “damage control” in the wake of a convincing victory for the single desk side in the Manitoba plebiscite.
He said the three-option question on barley is “fraudulent” and said the federal government should hold the barley and wheat plebiscites at the same time and offer farmers a clear choice between the single desk and open market.
