REGINA – The Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association wants the Canadian Wheat Board advisory committee eliminated.
At its annual convention held in Regina last week the wheat growers passed a resolution urging Ottawa to disband the committee.
Members said the committee had failed to advise the board on positive policy changes, interfered in the Alberta wheat and barley marketing plebiscite and operated “outside its mandate” by commenting on farmers who have sold their grain directly to the United States.
“Something has gone wrong with the advisory committee,” said Kevin Archibald of Killarney, Man. He said the committee should stick to its mandate or be disbanded. It no longer represents what farmers want, he said.
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But Wilf Harder, chair of the advisory committee, said the wheat growers association is not being honest with its membership.
Harder said in an interview that the wheat growers should have passed a resolution to eliminate the wheat board itself.
“That’s what their ultimate objective is,” Harder said. “They’re being less than honest.”
Harder said if the wheat growers are concerned about the advisory committee’s role in the Alberta plebiscite, they should question their own participation.
Interference charged
“What right has the wheat growers got to get involved in barley matters?” Harder said.
The outcome of the plebiscite and illegal grain movement across the Canada-U.S. border could seriously affect the operation of the wheat board, he said. Those are matters of concern for the advisory committee.
Harder also said the committee has been working on behalf of producers to distribute more information about the CWB.
The wheat growers also passed a resolution instructing the wheat board to stay out of canola marketing and another saying the board’s monopoly should be removed without a vote.
They said the monopoly was implemented as a temporary war measure, without a vote, and a vote to remove it is not necessary.
