BALGONIE, Sask. – Bring on the auditor general, says Canadian Wheat Board director Rod Flaman.
Responding to federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz’s Feb. 26 call for a full examination of the board’s books by the auditor general in light of significant losses caused by volatile trading last year, Flaman told farmers that an independent consultant, Gibson Capital Inc., has already conducted an inquiry.
He also said the board of directors has told Ritz it would formally ask the auditor general to examine the CWB’s books, if that’s what he wanted.
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“He is throwing back what we offered to him,” Flaman said.
The board hired Gibson Capital, a Calgary-based firm created by a former senior wheat board employee, some time ago to examine its producer pricing options. A confidential final report was delivered last November.
Flaman said the directors sent a copy to Ritz and offered to have the consultant do additional work if required.
“We anticipated a public call for an inquiry so we advanced the inquiry that we had done to minister Ritz and said, ‘here, it’s already been done.'”
Now that Ritz has said he wants the auditor general to conduct a full operational audit, the board has to make a formal request.
Flaman said his only concern about an audit is the cost to Canadian taxpayers.
“That’s fine when you’re doing a study of something that’s already funded by taxpayers’ dollars, like Canada Post or the health care system, but the wheat board is funded entirely by farmers, so the government has to be on side with using taxpayers’ dollars to do this.”
Flaman made his comments during a wheat board director meeting he hosted, which was notable for a lack of debate about the CWB’s future.
“Six years ago at a meeting like this I would have said it was fashionable to be a detractor,” he said.
“It was my objective over a period of time to make being a wheat board supporter fashionable. I think we’ve made a lot of headway.”
He said strong detractors have likely reached the conclusion that Ritz is not going to make changes to the board’s export monopoly anytime soon.
“Obviously, if they ever obtained a majority government it would be a whole different ballgame.”
