Incumbent Canadian Wheat Board directors who support single desk marketing should withdraw from this fall’s elections, says the president of the Western Barley Growers Association.
Jeff Nielsen made the proposal in an open letter on the CWB issue released to the news media last week.
In it, he urged farmers to vote for candidates who support the federal government’s plan to eliminate the board’s single desk powers and move to an open market for wheat and barley.
Those candidates will work to ensure that the CWB survives and continues to serve producers in an open market environment, Nielsen said.
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He also suggested that the four incumbents who support the single desk shouldn’t even run.
“I also encourage the incumbents that if you don’t support the government’s vision, then do the honourable thing and step aside,” he said.
“Let producers elect directors that have knowledge, the drive and the ability to work towards a strong CWB that will continue to be an option for farmers to deal with in the future.”
In an interview from his farm at Olds, Alta., Nielsen said it makes no sense for someone who opposes the government’s plans for restructuring the grain marketing agency to be on the board of directors.
While 10 of the 15 directors are elected by farmers, he said the organization is ultimately responsible to the government through the CWB minister.
He likened the situation to an employee at a company who disagrees with his boss’s directions on corporate strategy. He either agrees to follow the boss’s instructions or he gets a new job.
“The government of the day is supporting pro-choice marketing,” Nielsen said.
“If you can’t accept and work under those conditions, you should step aside.”
Director Bill Nicholson, a single desk supporter who represents Manitoba’s District 9, rejected Nielsen’s argument, calling it anti-democratic.
“I’m accountable to the farmers who vote in my district, not to the federal government,” he said.
By stepping aside, single desk supporters would effectively disenfranchise the majority of CWB voters, who support the single desk, he added.
Farmers in his district have supported his position in two previous elections, he said, and he will again campaign on the basis of retaining the single desk and expanding the wheat board’s operations as outlined in its vision document Harvesting Opportunity.
“It’s the government and the WBGA who are out of touch with farmer opinion,” said Nicholson, adding they should respect the view of the majority as expressed in the CWB elections.
Four of the five incumbents running are single desk supporters: Nicholson, Art Macklin in District 1, Larry Hill in District 3 and Allen Oberg in District 5. Dwayne Anderson in District 7 supports the government’s plan to dismantle the single desk.
