OTTAWA – Reform party leader Preston Manning went to Washington last week and immediately found himself in hot water over comments he made about the Canadian Wheat Board.
As he arrived on March 13, the U.S. wheat lobby was issuing a report condemning the wheat board for allegedly undercutting American wheat markets and prices abroad.
They demanded the board be forced to open its books and to make its pricing practices “transparent”.
The next morning, Manning met reporters who asked him to comment on the report and its criticism of the wheat board.
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Manning responded by reciting Reform policy on the board – that it should be reformed, that it should be controlled by an elected board-of-directors and that it should lose its monopoly on sales into the U.S. once farmers have voted that way in a referendum.
“We think some of those changes would not only make the wheat board operate more effectively for Canada but would remove it as an irritant in the trade discussions,” said the Reform leader. His comments were taken as support for the Americans and Manning was called an “ally” of the U.S. wheat lobby.
In the House of Commons, he was denounced by agriculture minister Ralph Goodale. “The leader of the Reform party is as much of a diplomatic disappointment in Washington as he is a political disappointment in Canada.”
Reform MP Leon Benoit said outside the Commons March 14 there is evidence the wheat board has been dumping grain into the U.S. “What Canadian farmers are asking for is that the books be opened, that there be a new openness in the wheat board,” he said.
The Vegreville MP said it was “perfectly legitimate” for Manning to go to Washington to explain Reform positions. “We are just talking about what farmers want. The reading I have is that the majority of western farmers do not favor a monopoly.”
By March 17 when Manning returned, a spokesperson from his office was insisting it was confusion created out of a misunderstanding by reporters in Washington.
It was a question of bad timing, to be criticizing the board at the same time the Americans were.
“Mr. Manning was reciting long-standing policy,” said Larry Welsh, who taped the interviews. “He was somewhat surprised to see it being interpreted as him taking the side of the American producers. Anything but. He supports policies which increase our sales south.”
