Any move toward ending the Canadian Wheat Board’s single desk for barley will require a new plebiscite, said the chair of the Canadian Wheat Board.And this time, said Allan Oberg, it needs to be done right.To Oberg, that means public discussion is needed before the vote to sort out what format a new plebiscite should take.Those discussions should address the wording of the question, the percentage of votes needed to win, whether results are binding on government, how the vote is counted and scrutinized and spending rules.Oberg said he remains a single desk supporter as the best option for barley and wheat, but he added he would live by the results of a fairly conducted farmer plebiscite.The federal government and open market supporters say a controversial three-question plebiscite in 2007 showed that more than 60 percent of the farmers who voted wanted to get rid of the board’s monopoly.That result was used as a basis for the government’s unsuccessful attempt to deregulate the barley market in August 2008.But Oberg said last week a new plebiscite is needed before action can be taken on barley.“Few farmers are under the illusion that the last three-question plebiscite was credible,” he said.Sixty percent of permit book holders questioned in the CWB’s recently released producer survey said the 2006 vote was flawed and does not represent approval from farmers to remove barley from the single desk.
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