The Canadian Wheat Board is misleading farmers when it claims the marketing monopoly earns them as much as $665 million annually, federal agriculture minister Chuck Strahl said last week.
“I believe that some of the figures that are used by the Canadian Wheat Board are misleading on several fronts,” Strahl told the House of Commons agriculture committee Oct. 31.
He was responding to Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter who asked if the government has credible evidence to dispute CWB claims that the monopoly earns $530 to $655 million a year for farmers.
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“The wheat board, obviously, is going to put out something that buttresses their own argument,” Strahl replied. “It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
He suggested the board falsely claims savings that result because of the difference between low-interest government borrowing rates afforded the board and commercial rates.
“That has nothing to do with the wheat board monopoly. That’s just government policy.”
He said the board also takes credit for savings because of farmer access to producer cars.
“That’s handled under the Canada Grain Act and really has nothing to do with the Canadian Wheat Board Act.”
And board claims that federal guarantees of the initial payments are a benefit of the monopoly are a stretch, said Strahl.
“In fact, of course, the federal government guarantees other initial payments for non-monopoly boards, such as the Ontario Wheat Producers’ Marketing Board.”
Strahl also challenged the CWB view that spending farmer money on lobbying for the single desk monopoly is a financial benefit to farmers.
“I think you’ll get farmers on both sides of that. Many farmers say that their jobs should be selling and marketing wheat, not lobbying and advocacy work.”
Later, Strahl told Ontario Conservative MP Larry Miller that the wheat board’s calculations also do not account for losses in interest or investment income farmers would accrue if they could receive higher market prices for their grain when they were available rather than waiting for the final pool payment months later.
Easter was unmoved by the arguments.
“They presented no credible rebuttal,” he said later. “The wheat board calculations stand.”
