As Greg Arason prepared for the barley meeting in Ottawa, convened by agriculture Gerry Ritz and slated for Jan. 29, the Canadian Wheat Board’s chief executive officer probably wasn’t expecting to see many friendly faces around the table.
Most of those invited to the one-day meeting were from groups favouring an end to the board’s marketing authority over barley.
The list included associations representing maltsters, grain handlers and brewers, four farm groups that want an open market, the Alberta Barley Commission, one inland terminal company and the three provincial agriculture ministers.
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Also invited were Arason, chief operating officer Ward Weisensel and any CWB directors who could attend.
Missing from the list were a number of farm groups, including the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Wild Rose Agricultural Producers, Keystone Agricultural Producers, the National Farmers Union and Friends of the CWB.
Officials with those groups said the meeting should have been more inclusive
“I don’t believe they should draw a line,” CFA president Bob Friesen said before the meeting. “They should invite everybody who wants to talk about an issue like this. A broad range of views is always preferable.”
Rod Scarlett, executive director of Wild Rose Agricultural Producers, agreed.
“Let’s not politicize it to the extreme where you just invite political friends.”
A spokesperson from Ritz’s office said the government wanted to limit attendance to groups directly involved in the barley chain.
“We thought farmers would be better represented by the specific groups that deal with this issue rather than umbrella groups,” said Todd MacKay.
When Ritz announced the meeting in mid-January, he said the purpose was to focus on ways to move toward marketing choice for barley growers.
Jeff Nielsen, president of the pro-open market Western Barley Growers Association, which was invited, said he wasn’t concerned about who’s not there.
“It’s the minister’s prerogative who he invites to the meeting,” he said, adding the important thing is to resolve the impasse over malting barley.
Charles Anderson, head of a group called Market Choice Alliance, agreed. He said as far as he’s concerned the meeting is intended to show that farmers and industry are opposed to the board’s new CashPlus barley marketing program and won’t be satisfied until the board is out of barley marketing.
“CashPlus changes nothing,” Anderson said, adding it adds no value, fails to provide accurate price signals and maintains pooling.
Some critics said the guest list shows the government wants to hear only from people who agree with its policy on grain marketing.
“This meeting is closed to people who might present an alternative view,” said Bob Roehle of Friends of the CWB.
Given the people around the table, he said, it’s a foregone conclusion they will emerge from the meeting trashing the CWB’s CashPlus program..
“It’s political grandstanding designed to push the board to the edge of extinction,” said Roehle.
National Farmers Union president Stewart Wells described the meeting as a dog and pony show organized at taxpayers’ expense for the purpose of giving the CWB a public whipping.
“They can only do that if they keep out legitimate farm groups that support a strong CWB,” Wells said.
There were also questions about how well the farm groups at the table represented western Canadian farmers.
For example, KAP, with 4,760 members, wasn’t invited. The WBGA, with 130 members, was invited, along with a number of even smaller groups like Market Choice Alliance.
However, KAP president Ian Wishart said he’s not sure whether it would have been worthwhile to attend.
“It’s probably not going to be hugely constructive,” he said.
If they had attended, groups like CFA, WRAP and Keystone Agricultural Producers said they would have argued that producers should be given a chance to try CashPlus to see if it meets their business needs.
Provincial agriculture ministers George Groeneveld from Alberta and Bob Bjornerud from Saskatchewan support the government’s plan to end the single desk for barley, while Manitoba’s minister Rosann Wowchuk opposes Ottawa’s attempt to remove the single desk through regulation.
