Andy Baker thinks University of Manitoba students need a dose of co-operative reality.
The Beausejour, Man. farmer and Manitoba Pool Elevators delegate said when he went to the university, the curriculum placed too much emphasis on the open market and the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange.
At the pool’s annual meeting last week, Baker voiced his support for a proposed co-operative chair at the university similar to ones at the universities of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
“Let’s see them have their courses reflect what the world is,” Baker told fellow delegates.
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The board of directors of Manitoba Pool recently pledged financial support to the proposed position.
Board member Wilf Harder, who is also on the Canadian Wheat Board farmer advisory committee, said some younger farmers’ negative attitudes toward orderly marketing are a direct result of what they learned in school.
“Some of the problems we have in agriculture and agriculture policy … come out of that institution,” Harder said.
Pool president Charlie Swanson said Brian Oleson at the Canadian Wheat Board and Daryl Kraft at the University of Manitoba are soliciting support from co-operatives in the province.
Kraft didn’t want to comment on the proposal until he has commitments from several co-ops.
Swanson said it would cost co-ops in the province about $150,000 per year to pay for the chair, and they would have to commit funding for at least three years.
He said he’s optimistic the proposal will become reality.
“There is an alternative to capitalism in its truest form, and everyone doing things on their own, so to speak,” Swanson said. “There’s a large segment of the population in this province that belong to co-operatives. Over the years, there has not been through our educational institutions any kind of presence putting forward the co-operative message.”
