Farmers eligible to vote in the Canadian Wheat Board director elections, for the odd-numbered districts, have eight days left in which to mail their ballots, which must be postmarked no later than Dec. 3. The results are to be announced Dec. 12.
As in any election, critical thought is required of voters before they make their decision.
Past CWB director elections have been polarized, with candidates pushing for either maintenance of the CWB marketing monopoly on wheat and export barley, or an open market that may or may not include the CWB as a grain marketer.
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To some extent that polarization is still in play today, but candidates and voters are also exploring a bigger picture, one that goes beyond the far-from-simple question of whether a monopoly or an open market is best for farmers.
Candidates’ material includes little acceptance of the status quo. The prevailing push is to improve the CWB and how it responds to and acts on behalf of farmers, or how to improve western Canadian grain marketing in general so it brings the best possible returns to farmers.
Opinions differ on exactly how these goals can be accomplished and farmers owe it to themselves and their economic futures to thoroughly explore those opinions.
Farmer voters are fortunate to have a slate of knowledgeable and experienced candidates from which to choose: Daniel Gauthier, Henry Vos, Lynn Jacobson, Brett Meinert, Brian Otto, Stewart Wells, Vicki Dutton, Allen Oberg, Kyle Korneychuk, Terry Youzwa, Garry Draper, John Sandborn and Ernie Sirski.
To a person, they are experienced, educated individuals.
All of them run farm operations.
All have commodity group, farm group or grain company experience. All have experience with grain marketing and have thought long and hard about how it is managed and how it can be improved.
All are concerned enough about the future of grain marketing that they are willing to expend their time and effort to help other farmers prosper.
Typical of any election, there are disaffected individuals who think they register a protest of the process by withholding their ballots and failing to vote. And as is the case in any election, this misguided idea simply allows others to make the decision.
The future of the CWB and the direction of western Canadian grain marketing must be decided by farmers; by those who use the board and by those who are affected by the board’s operations. It is not a matter for government to decide.
The current government has made no secret of its desire to change the grain marketing status quo, though efforts to achieve that have been thwarted several times.
It would doubtless be easier for the government to achieve its goals if more open market supporters were elected to the board.
Conversely, the board’s status would be easier to maintain and protect if more single-desk supporters were elected.
Not to put too fine a point on it, this election will have major implications. Every ballot will be needed to ensure the wishes of the majority are realized.
Information on the candidates and the issues is readily available. Profiles ran in the Nov. 4 issue of this newspaper. Information posted by the candidates themselves is easily accessible at cwbelection. com, a site maintained by election coordinator Myers Norris Penny.
Questions can be posed to the election co-ordinator at questions@cwbelection.com. And various websites, on-line forums and electronic newsletters are full of discussions about the election, the issues and the candidates.
Get informed and then cast your ballot. Your vote is valuable. It means something. It means a lot.
Bruce Dyck, Terry Fries, Barb Glen and D’Arce McMillan collaborate in the writing of Western Producer editorials.
