If the Canadian Wheat Board is going to get its first facelift in 50 years, Manitoba’s farm lobby said it might as well be done right.
Leslie Jacobson, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, said that means making whoever runs the revamped board accountable to farmers.
“The CEO should be responsible to the board of directors not just for his wage, but indeed they’d have the ability to fire him if he loses the confidence of the board of directors,” Jacobson said in an interview from Ottawa last week.
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KAP, along with its counterpart lobby farm group from Alberta – Wild Rose Agriculture Producers – and the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, told the standing committee on agriculture last week what it thinks about Bill C-4’s amendments to the Canadian Wheat Board Act.
While the federal agriculture minister could appoint the board’s chief executive officer initially, that might not be in the best interests of farmers over the long term, Jacobson said.
Either way, the board of directors representing farmers should have the final say.
“It would be more than just a perception thing where they could reduce his salary,” Jacobson said.
“If this individual is running the business of the Canadian Wheat Board then he better be responsible to the board of directors.”
KAP also warned the federal government not to make plans where the wheat board’s contingency fund is concerned. As the legislation is proposed, the fund would be limited to guaranteeing adjustments to initial payments and covering potential losses if and when cash trading proceeds.
KAP says the money should be held as a reserve fund by the CWB board of directors to be used for development of wheat board activities “identified as priorities by the board,” Jacobson said.
“If it is producer money making up this fund, it better be the board of directors that sets the criteria,” he said.
“Would you see the federal government talking about the amount of the fund when they’re not contributing to it?”
KAP also outlined a set of recommendations to govern the election of directors:
- Representation should be based on geographic distribution, with two directors from Manitoba, one of them representing a geographic region that spans the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border.
- The term of office should be four years.
- Voters should be CWB permit book holders, Canadian citizens or landed immigrants and Canadian residents.
- Conflict of interest guidelines should apply to all directors.
- The board should set a cap on money spent on elections.
Jacobson told the committee KAP favors the controversial inclusion clause, which allows other grains to be added to the CWB’s jurisdiction. He said adding new crops has no merit now, but a method to do so may be necessary in the future.
