opinion
Could anything sound more reasonable? A Canada-U.S. commission has suggested the two nations end their grain war by reducing both U.S. export subsidies and the marketing powers of the Canadian Wheat Board.
At first glance, which is about all the study most policymakers will give to the commission’s report, that seems like a fair compromise in which both sides give up something.
In reality, any substantial reduction in wheat board powers would be spineless surrender to U.S. bullying.
The simple fact is that U.S. export subsidies and wheat board powers are not comparable.
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Economists can quibble about whether board sales are “transparent” enough, but such issues are simply not in the same league as the crude, massive, market-distorting U.S. export subsidies.
Under terms of the new world trade agreement, the U.S. is already supposed to be reducing these subsidies – and, as usual, it is dragging its feet in complying with that agreement.
The U.S. subsidies, when applied to markets served by Canada, have also been a blatant violation of the spirit of the Canada-U.S. free-trade agreement. Honor in diplomacy, however, does not seem to apply when the U.S. scents a potential trade advantage.
Canada has already made major changes in supply-management programs as part of the price for obtaining new trade agreements.
It should under no circumstances offer any more concessions to try to persuade the U.S. to trade fairly.
Such appeasement simply does not work. It doesn’t work with fourth-grade bullies, and it didn’t work with German expansionism in the 1930s.
All it does is make the bullies or tyrants keep seeking more, until they finally run into a show of force.
There are changes that might be made to the wheat board to help it serve Canadian farmers better – electing directors, for example – but there should be no change for the purpose of appeasing U.S. interests.
Canadian farmers have already suffered enough from the U.S. subsidies, which have depressed world prices for most of the past 10 years and cost Canadian farmers billions of dollars. Farm families were under heavy stress, and more than a few went bankrupt.
The marketing strength of the wheat board helped preserve markets and prevent the situation from becoming even worse. Now the U.S. wants to gut the board.
Prime minister ChrŽtien and agriculture minister Goodale should deliver a blunt message to the Americans: don’t bother even trying to talk to us about wheat board powers until all your export subsidies are gone.
