Only three women, one in each prairie province, are running along with 62 men in the Canadian Wheat Board elections.
Campaigning are Connie Blixhavn of Killarney, Man., Colleen Bianchi of Coutts, Alta., and Margaret Ellard of Moose Jaw, Sask.
Blixhavn said she is running as a director in District 10 because “I was afraid of what would happen if people with strong political viewpoints run. It will affect the integrity of the board. They’ll forget about the business of the board.”
She supports single-desk selling but said she is not a “fist-pounding” type.
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Running in District 3, Bianchi wants the wheat board to reform itself so producers don’t have to wait 18 months for final payments on their grain.
“My father’s generation didn’t understand all the deductions. It wasn’t on the cash ticket like today. … The producer on the land doesn’t know when or if they’re getting interim payments.”
Bianchi would like more explanation of the wheat board’s costs and she supports more free choice, such as dual marketing – a position she says she did not always support but has developed as grain farming has become more difficult.
Ellard said she is running in District 8 because she is a strong supporter of the wheat board and she wants a capable board of directors elected.
“I want to see that we do it right. It’s a chance to have an influence.”
She and her husband have been farming since 1971, first with a cow-calf operation and later grains such as wheat, barley, canola, sunola, linola, peas and lentils. Ellard also is a chartered accountant and works off the farm.
Blixhavn farms 4,700 acres of canola and wheat with her husband and brother-in-law and also has a part-time accounting job. She does bookwork for the farm and makes decisions as part of the trio.
While she expects gender will not be a factor in the election, she believes her cool, calm nature and apolitical stance are perhaps due to her being a woman.
Bianchi, who works with her husband on their 2,700 acres seeded to durum and barley and occasionally canola and mustard, said she is not sure if her gender will make any difference.
“I asked men who wanted me to run about that and they said it shouldn’t matter.”
As long as people are open-minded, it should not be an issue.
Ellard said she hopes her gender is a neutral factor in the election, but “win, lose or draw, I’d like to see a good set of directors because “in the day-to-day operations of the wheat board, the directors will vote on questions of futures markets, options and financial derivatives.”
