OTTAWA (Staff) – While some prairie farmers drive trucks across the U.S. border to protest Canadian Wheat Board regulations, the federal panel charged with reviewing Canada’s grain marketing system is quietly going about its business.
The panel is preparing a bro-chure designed to provide background information on the marketing system and is planning a series of public meetings across the Prairies beginning in January.
The panel will also hold more formal industry hearings in March and will accept written submissions.
Able to express view
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Tom Molloy, the Saskatoon lawyer heading the review, said last week anybody who wants to speak on the subject will get a hearing.
“The panel wants to hear any and all views on grain marketing issues in Western Canada,” Molloy said.
The nine-member panel is to report by June 1996 on a variety of issues, including the relevance of the existing marketing structures in light of changing world market conditions, the financial implications of different marketing systems and the needs of value-added industries.
Open to everyone
The panel will hold 22 town hall meetings. The exact format hasn’t yet been determined, although officials say they will take steps to ensure the meetings aren’t “hi-jacked” by any particular group.
Meanwhile, federal agriculture minister Ralph Goodale last week described the panel process as “absolutely indispensable” in settling the ongoing debate over the wheat board marketing system.
Goodale was responding to comments from council member Ken Motiuk, a farmer from Alberta and representative of United Grain Growers. He told the minister that it’s clear farmers want change and there’s no need to wait for the outcome of the review panel.
The border protests, the court challenges and the shift away from wheat and barley production all indicate that “farmers want marketing choices,” said Motiuk.
