SASKATOON – The late seeding season is threatening to play havoc with the report of the Western Grain Marketing Panel.
A panel meeting scheduled last weekend in Winnipeg was cancelled because some farmer members were busy in their fields. The next meeting is slated for June 9-10.
But those working to write the report on the future of Canada’s grain marketing system still expect to meet their June 30 deadline.
“It may make things a little tighter, but I don’t think it’s a major problem,” said Murray Cormack, the panel’s executive director.
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In recent months agriculture minister Ralph Goodale has deflected all demands for changes to the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly on wheat and barley exports by saying he would wait until the federally appointed panel handed in its report.
Last week Goodale said he will act as quickly as possible on the report’s recommendations, but warned that might not be until the fall.
“I would have to see the report before I’m too definitive in terms of the time frame, but if there are issues that beg legislative action, then I would hope to be in a position to bring forward the appropriate legislation when the House of Commons would come back into session in the fall,” he said.
If the panel recommends changes that can be made without bringing in new legislation or amending the Canadian Wheat Board Act, Goodale said he could move more quickly in those areas.
Panel members interviewed last week said they have been making progress, although they have yet to deal with the most contentious questions under review, like the fate of the board’s export monopoly.
“We’re trying to sort out the easier issues first,” said panelist John Pearson, a vice-president of Alberta Wheat Pool. “When it comes to the final chapters, that’s going to be a lot tougher.”
Besides the CWB monopoly, the panelists are looking at issues such as whether the current grain marketing system meets customers’ needs, Canada’s competitive position in various grain markets, the needs of value-added industries and what kind of marketing system will do the best job in areas like attracting investment, providing credit and risk management.
Their job is to identify areas of broad agreement and recommend action. In areas in which there is no agreement, they are to identify the policy options, outline the pros and cons of each and recommend what should be done to implement each of those options.
“There’s no doubt there will be some areas where we don’t have consensus,” said panel member Owen McAuley of Manitoba, adding that’s to be expected since the panel was put together to reflect a cross-section of grain industry opinion.
Productive discussions
Pearson said that while there are clearly differences in ideology and philosophy among the nine panelists, the discussions to date have been positive and productive.
“It’s obvious that people are very sensitive to everybody’s viewpoints,” he said. “Everybody’s listening and looking for the merits in everybody else’s opinions.”
While the panel has been going about its work, the debate over the fate of the wheat board has remained front and centre in the public arena, with border crossings, arrests, hunger strikes, the resignation of a CWB commissioner, conflicting court decisions and emergency cabinet orders.
McAuley said while all that seeps into the panel’s discussions, the members are trying not to be influenced by the daily ebb and flow of events.
“We’ve been trying to keep ourselves separated from those issues specifically,” he said. “We’re trying to look at this from our mandate of deciding what’s best for the marketing system and what are the options if we go one way or another.”
Cormack said he expects the final report will run in excess of 200 pages, along with appendices that will include research reports commissioned by the panel.
