OTTAWA – The majority of prairie farmers support in theory a proposal to remove feed barley exports from Canadian Wheat Board jurisdiction, but support declines when they are queried about the implications of the move, a government-commissioned opinion poll indicates.
Three pages of poll results written in August by the Angus Reid Group for Agriculture Canada were leaked and last week were being distributed by Canadian Farmers for Justice and some Reform MPs as proof there is support for dual marketing.
“Silent majority supports change,” said a Farmers for Justice news release Sept. 18. It reported the survey shows 55 percent of farmers polled support freeing barley from the wheat board monopoly.
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Federal agriculture minister Ralph Goodale, while refusing to formally release “a partial and preliminary document”, disputed the interpretation.
He said reports indicate that once some of the potential implications of an open market were considered, support for the board monopoly increased to 75 percent.
Farmers for Justice “are deliberately distorting what the numbers might signify, twisting it and turning it to their own interest,” Goodale said Sept. 18 outside the House of Commons. “I don’t think the numbers support that interpretation.”
In the Commons, Reform MP Garry Breitkreuz called on the minister to release the Angus Reid poll and to hold “a true and open plebiscite” to determine farmer opinion.
Goodale rejected the call.
“I see little point in formally releasing a partial and preliminary document which the opposition and the media already have,” he said. “That strikes me as a bit redundant.”
According to the Angus Reid analysis, 760 prairie farmers were polled about recommendations in the Western Grain Marketing Panel report, which held hearings throughout the prairies last year and recommended changes to the wheat board’s structure and monopoly powers.
Initially, two-thirds of the farmers polled said they support “major” or “minor” changes in the way the board operates. Only eight percent said they favored no change and three percent supported eliminating the board.
Eighty-six percent favored a board of directors “mainly made up of farmers.”
Initially, 55 percent supported the recommendation that feed barley exports be an open market transaction.
“This support is reduced to just over 40 percent of respondents once they are presented with the argument that exporting feed barley outside the Canadian Wheat Board could result in a decline in malt barley prices because some barley sold as feed could end up being used for malt purposes,” said the pollster’s analysis.
The Reid report said once farmers had been asked about each of the panel recommendations, support for no change to the board increased to more than 25 percent while 23 percent supported the panel recommendations as a package and one-third wanted to see more crops added to the board’s jurisdiction.
Board critics said last week the final results were distorted to favor the board by use of leading questions.
