Canadian Wheat Board minister Ralph Goodale issued a not-so-thinly veiled threat that there could be retaliation over a looming American trade investigation into wheat board practices.
“You attack our grain shipments on grounds that we believe are ill-founded and we must find a response – maybe your pasta exports, 75 percent of which flow into Canada,” said Goodale in a written text of a speech he delivered at the university.
He was speaking at a conference on United States-Canadian agricultural trade issues organized by South Dakota State University.
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When asked during a phone interview about the threat, Goodale softened his stance.
“I simply want to make the point that (the U.S. trade action) is totally counterproductive…. I just want to make the point that these kinds of specious trade proceedings are not without consequences.”
The North Dakota Wheat Commission launched the latest investigation. It has the backing of 18 members of the United States House of Representatives and 19 senators who wrote to president Bill Clinton in support of the petition.
U.S. trade representative Charlene Barshefsky indicated her office will decide by Oct. 23 whether to investigate the unfair trading practices complaint.
If the investigation proceeds, it will mark the ninth time Americans have scrutinized the wheat board in the last decade. The agency has received a clean report card on the previous eight examinations.
“At the end of the day the score is eight to nothing in Canada’s favor,” said Goodale in the text.
“What our Canadian farmers find hard to understand is the almost knee-jerk reaction in many quarters in the United States to paint Canadian farmers and Canadian grain as the source of your difficulty. A handy scapegoat. A whipping boy. A convenient foreign target to blame. Without a shred of fact or logic to support the allegation.”
According to the written version of his speech, he told the room of academics that the board typically exports 18 million tonnes of wheat and only about 10 percent of that is sold into the U.S.
The volume of exports represents less than three percent of the annual U.S. production of 65 million tonnes of wheat.
“I mention these numbers just to underscore that you could not fairly describe this small Canadian volume as any kind of ‘flood’ or avalanche’ as some have alleged,” Goodale stated.
He also pointed out that the board markets wheat and barley as high quality products with different uses. The target is the top-end of the market, he said. The agency does not undercut other sellers to capture the bottom-end.
He said the board is audited every year by the international accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche. Those reports appear publicly in the board’s annual report.
“When was the last time that you saw the publication of a fully audited financial statement of any other major grain trader’s revenues and costs,” Goodale asked conference attendees Sept. 28.
He urged the Americans to focus on what he called “the real culprit,” which are the subsidies that are causing low grain prices.
“Rather than flailing away at each other – in an exercise in which only the trade lawyers and lobbyists have made any profit – we can and should focus together on making profits for farmers.”
