Prime minister Stephen Harper says the government will pass legislation to end the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly by next year, despite the NDP’s claims it will block the bill.
Speaking in Regina Oct. 7 at the Alliance Grain Traders’ announcement of a new $50 million durum and pulse processing facility and pasta plant, Harper said the bill will come forward soon after the House of Commons returns Oct. 17.
“Let me be very clear. Not only will the legislation come forward, it will be passed very soon,” he said to applause from a crowd of invited gusts.
Read Also
Manitoba Parkland research station grapples with dry year
Drought conditions in northwestern Manitoba have forced researchers at the Parkland Crop Diversification Foundation to terminate some projects and reseed others.
“We will have dual marketing in August for the next crop year and the reason I emphasize these points is this is a historic change that has been long overdue.”
Manitoba New Democrat MP Pat Martin has said a united opposition could delay the legislation, leaving the government unable to get it through Parliament in time to implement it next year.
A group of protesters, kept small by pouring rain, demonstrated outside Alliance Grain Traders’ Saskcan Agtech where Harper and Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall congratulated the company on its plans to establish secondary food processing to complement its international pulse export business.
Harper spoke strongly of his government’s desire to put the monopoly issue to rest.
“It’s time for the wheat board and others who have been standing in the way to realize that this train is barrelling down a prairie track,” he said.
“You’re much better to get on it than to lie on the tracks because this is going ahead. It’s time for the wheat board to go out in a dual marketing environment, to cultivate its customers and provide a competitive service because those customers are going to have choice in the future.”
