A longtime opponent of single desk marketing has been appointed a director of the Canadian Wheat Board.
After rejecting a proposal from the CWB that an independent headhunting firm prepare a list of candidates, CWB minister Chuck Strahl selected Ken Motiuk, a farmer from Mundare, Alta.
Motiuk, whose background includes stints on the board of directors of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, United Grain Growers and as a governor of the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange, will be one of five appointed directors, who work with 10 elected farmer directors to establish board policies and business strategies.
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He replaces Lynne Pearson, whose three-year term expired in June.
In April 2005, the board sent a letter to Strahl suggesting a new process for appointing directors.
It proposed that the board engage an independent professional head hunting firm to seek out candidates with a specific skill set required by the board. In this case, it was expertise in finance, international capital markets or high level accounting.
The board proposed that the firm identify three candidates, with the minister making the final selection.
“We felt that was a responsible way to proceed,” said CWB director Art Macklin, ensuring the process would not be politicized and would produce a top-notch addition to the board.
However, the minister rejected the proposal, telling the board that he wanted to appoint a director who was attuned to the government’s open market philosophy.
In last week’s announcement, Strahl specifically pointed to Motiuk’s support of the open market and said his job as director will be to ensure the board “remains a strong and viable marketing option for farmers to choose in the future.”
The announcement of Motiuk’s appointment triggered the usual debate that accompanies most news involving the CWB.
Single desk supporters condemned it as being based on politics and ideology, rather than looking for the best person to provide expert advice in running the grain marketing agency.
“Mr. Motiuk’s primary qualification for this appointment appears to be his commitment to destroying orderly marketing and the single desk,” said National Farmers Union president Stewart Wells.
Appointed directors have traditionally been selected for the expertise they bring to the board table in areas such as international trade, law, corporate governance or marketing. This appointment ignores that tradition, said Wells.
But farm groups who support an end to the single desk said it makes sense to appoint a dual marketer, given that the government has made it clear the single desk’s days are numbered.
“I think he’ll help the CWB make the transition to a marketing choice environment,” said WCWGA president Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel.
You have to have people around the table who are open to that concept and ready to contribute.”
In an interview from his 5,000 acre grain and cattle farm, Motiuk said he believes he is well suited to help the board as it faces the change from single desk marketing to being a voluntary board competing in an open market.
“In my farming career I’ve always been looking for new ways of thinking and new ways of doing things” he said.
“That can apply in this job given the changes the board has to make.”
As for qualifications, he cited his extensive experience working on corporate boards of directors, many them involved in financial activities, such as the Alberta Credit Deposit Guarantee Corp.
“I guess financial management is one area I could say I have some strengths,” he said.
But Motiuk declined to speculate on why Strahl selected him for the job, other than to say his views on the wheat board have been well known for years and are in line with the government’s plans.
“I guess my appointment is in line with that,” he said.
Macklin said previous government-
appointed directors have all been competent people who brought valuable expertise to the table, especially in the early days of the elected board, and who never had defined views on single desk marketing before their appointment.
“We have never felt that any previous appointment was made on the basis of partisan political favouritism or ideology,” he said.
He added he is not pre-judging Motiuk’s appointment, and will wait to see what skills he brings to the board table.
