REGINA – Bob Terichow didn’t buy shares in Saskatchewan Wheat Pool just to make money.
For Terichow, who recently moved back to Saskatchewan from Vancouver, it also represented a way to get in touch with his roots.
“My decision to invest in the pool was both practical and emotional,” he said after attending the first-ever meeting of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool’s Class B shareholders.
Terichow’s grandfather farmed at Buchanan, Sask., just northwest of Yorkton, and was an early member of Sask Pool. The family no longer owns that land and Terichow works in Regina. But he couldn’t pass up the chance to buy shares in the pool.
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“I felt it was a good investment to make as an individual, but I also felt if we didn’t do it locally, it was going to happen anyway and we (in Saskatchewan) would lose control of the company,” he said.
Terichow was one of about 350 Class B shareholders who attended the meeting in a downtown Regina hotel. Included were the 120 or so shareholders who make up the pool’s delegate body, present and former employees, investment analysts, financial planners and average shareholders.
Billed by the pool as a historic occasion, the two-and-a-half hour meeting was a tame affair.
Critics of the pool’s new corporate structure were nowhere to be seen and questions from the floor were friendly.
“It went about as I had expected,” said pool president Leroy Larsen, who chaired the meeting. “I think the questions were extremely good. They focused on the operations of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, they asked about the future and I am very pleased about the attendance and the outcome.”
Company’s plans
During the meeting, the shareholders heard reports from Larsen and chief executive officer Don Loewen on developments and trends in world and Canadian agriculture, the pool’s 1995-96 financial results, the prospects for the coming year and the company’s long-term business strategy.
In written questions submitted anonymously, the shareholders asked about a variety of subjects, including:
- Pool shares – Asked when the pool will issue new Class B shares or do a stock split (reducing the share price by half while doubling individuals’ shareholdings), Loewen said there are no plans at the moment to do either. He also said there is “no prospect whatsoever” of giving voting rights to Class B shareholders.
- The future of the delegate body – Loewen said the delegates provide valuable input to the board of directors and management and under provincial legislation, they would have to vote themselves out of existence. The delegate body will be there “forever, unless they make a very unusual decision.” The pool will continue to speak out on policy issues, he said.
- Joint ventures – Loewen said the company is always looking for profitable joint ventures, whether it’s with other co-ops in Canada or the U.S., or with other grain handling companies. He defended the company’s decision to join with a competitor, Cargill Ltd., in building a new export terminal at Roberts Bank, B.C., as good for both companies and for Saskatchewan farmers.
