OTTAWA – Farmers should not count on the Canadian Wheat Board to give them the accurate market information they need to make business decisions, says Reform party leader Preston Manning.
And producers lobbying for a continuation of maximum grain freight rates for railways in a post-Crow Benefit world should not count on Reform support.
In a wide-ranging interview May 4, Manning presented both views as part of his party’s support for an open market economy.
“The board has to become more transparent so you can see what the real demand is,” Manning said.
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“You can theoretically build a case that the whole demand for wheat could disappear and the last to know about it would be the Canadian Wheat Board. … If the only signals you react to come from government programs, you are going to do some things that will put you at odds with where the future’s at.”
Manning said it does not mean Reform wants to abolish the wheat board. It simply reflects the party belief that “we’re going to have to recognize that if the guy standing between you and understanding demand for your product is a government guy, he blocks your view.”
The Reform leader said farmers, like other Canadians, must change their attitudes to shake off the habits of almost a century of regulation. “We’re going to have to be much more market oriented.”
Sympathize with farmers
On the issue of future regulation of grain freight rates, he has some sympathy for farmers who feel that when maximum freight rate rules end, they will be at the mercy of railways that often are their only transportation option.
This fear of being an unprotected “captive shipper” has led farm groups to ask that the government change its mind about ending the maximum rate protection July 31, 2000. Prairie Pools Inc. has proposed that the maximum rate rule be continued indefinitely unless the railways can prove there would be no damage to captive grain shippers.
Manning said this is the wrong approach. It would be better to deregulate and let the resulting efficiencies and competitive pressures work back through the system, to the benefit of all shippers.
“I’d be inclined to go the other way, to say it is going to go unless you can prove it shouldn’t,” he said.
The Reform leader speculated that a permanent cap on freight rates could be a violation of liberalized world trade rules, particularly if rate caps brought pressure for subsidy.
There may be some farm areas which have few transportation options “but you don’t then assume that the dominant characteristic of the whole system is monopoly and therefore you should have a smothering regulatory regime.”
