OTTAWA (Staff) – The Canadian Wheat Board has a bad attitude when it comes to democracy, a Reform MP complained last week.
As far as Leon Benoit is concerned, the federal government should tell Canadian Wheat Board officials to shut up when it comes to the issue of how farmers export their grain.
He was agitated over comments from a board spokesperson that Alberta would be subject to fines and penalties if it carries through with a plan to move Alberta wheat and barley across the American border for farmers.
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“It really ticks me when the Canadian Wheat Board commissioner says that Alberta will get in trouble if it dares challenge the wheat board jurisdiction,” he told reporters last week.
“What the heck kind of an attitude is that? If the farmers of Alberta and the government of Alberta decide they don’t want this, then who the heck is the wheat board to stand in the way? This is enough of this nonsense. Who do they think they are?”
He said the government will find out it cannot enforce a law people do not support.
“We’re seeing that in other countries, with gun control in Australia, it’s going to happen with gun control here,” said Benoit. “Alberta farmers will find a legal way to get around this unfair barrier that has been put in our way – the wheat board monopoly.”
