The federal government should shelve its proposals to reform the Canadian Wheat Board Act and start over again, says the president of United Grain Growers.
Next time, the legislation should give farmers control of the board, said Ted Allen.
While the government says farmers will have more say through a majority-elected board of directors, the proposed legislation keeps much of the real control in Ottawa’s hands, said Allen.
“The government is creating a puppet board. Farmers are being duped.”
Allen said UGG is demanding changes to the legislation. However, he said the best solution would be if agriculture minister Ralph Goodale withdraw C-72 and introduced a new bill this winter, to be in place this year.
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“I think they should go back to the drawing board and start over again,” he said. “My concern is that while the bill may be fixable, the government will do a little bit of tinkering to touch up the most outrageous pieces and then pass something that’s still pretty flawed.”
Goodale has said he is offering a majority-elected board and more producer control. Yet legislation does not make that clear, Allen said.
It gives the minister the power to designate some positions for election if he wants, leaves the power to dismiss directors with the federal government, requires annual federal approval of the wheat board corporate plan and gives Ottawa the power to appoint the chief operating officer and to designate the chairman of the board, as well as to set their salary levels.
“We have supported changes to the governance of the wheat board and understood progress would be made,” said Allen. “Then, you get into the nuts and bolts of what the legislation says and we were in shock. We could not believe the government was doing this. It is bizarre.”
