It is a sign of how much the Canadian Wheat Board debate has cooled off that one of the strongest national proponents of ending the CWB monopoly has decided to concentrate its lobby efforts elsewhere.
Grain Growers of Canada, representing such anti-monopoly groups as Western Canadian Wheat Growers and Western Barley Growers, is shifting its priority to lobbying governments for more public research dollars, says executive director Richard Phillips.
He said Jan. 30 the changing focus partly reflects that the Conservative government has backed away from the wheat board issue, at least for now.
Read Also
Phosphate prices to remain high
Phosphate prices are expected to remain elevated, according to Mosaic’s president.
“I would say it’s evident that at the present time, it is not a priority for the government and it will be a lower priority for us as well,” said Phillips.
“More and more, our members are identifying the need for public investment in research as the primary issue. It is disappointing that there were no new funds for research in the budget and it is something we are going to pursue with government.”
Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz last week confirmed that he will not reintroduce proposals to end the CWB barley single desk anytime soon.
“As far as the wheat board goes, I take direction from farmers in those directors’ elections last fall and we’ve said it is time to step back and allow farmers to make those decisions,” he said Jan. 28.
“We believe in democracy. You saw the result of the director elections. They spoke loudly and clearly. Farmers are interested in using the wheat board situation as it stands at this point.”
New Democratic Party CWB critic Pat Martin said the director elections “clearly took the wind out of their sails” but he warned board defenders to remain vigilant. He predicted the Conservatives will try to use a World Trade Organization deal to end the monopoly.
“I think they’ve run out of options domestically in a minority Parliament and will have to rely on international pressure to do their dirty work for them,” he said. “I’m sure if they ever got a majority, that legislation would be tabled as one of the first items of business. But for the moment, they have been derailed.”
However, David Anderson is not quite ready to accept that judgment.
The Saskatchewan MP, parliamentary secretary to Ritz on the CWB issue and vociferous single desk opponent, said he will continue to argue the government should move on the file.
“For me, the wheat board is never off the table,” he said. “It’s an issue of freedom and I am going to continue to work inside the government to try to bring that marketing freedom to western Canadian farmers.”
Anderson said that despite Ritz’s comments, “I think we will be coming back to this fairly quickly.”
