When Chuck Strahl visited the Western Producer on Feb. 12, we asked him if he had been surprised by the intensity of farmer reaction to government plans to remove the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly.
He wasn’t.
The federal agriculture minister said he had always known the CWB aroused passion among farmers. But there had been two other surprises.
One was the political tactics employed by the board. Former board CEO Adrian Measner’s appearance with Liberal opposition leader Stéphane Dion rated a specific mention.
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The other surprise was the level of personal attack from people who oppose his actions and plans, said the minister. Strahl, who has the demeanor of an “average Joe,” has been likened to two infamous Joes: Goebbels and Stalin. He didn’t find it a pleasant experience.
Proof of passion about grain marketing has definitely been in evidence within the Open Forum section of the Producer. Since Strahl began implementing the Conservative plan that he says will give greater marketing choice to farmers, letters to the editor have arrived frequently and furiously.
Black and white and read all over, most letters have few shades of grey. Writers either support the board and its continued monopoly on wheat and export barley sales, or they want that monopoly eliminated with the goal of greater marketing freedom.
The variety within the Forum lies in how these views are expressed and supported.
Readers tell us they enjoy the Open Forum section. They like to see who is complaining about what, and compare their own views with those of letter writers.
In fact, the letters pages are such a fixture that the weekly note about keeping length to about 300 words is often overlooked or unheeded. Missives 10 times that long are not uncommon.
And it’s the writers of those letters who call later to say “the most important point” was removed when their epistle was edited to a reasonable length.
Still, editors the world over rejoice when letters are bountiful, and this editor is no exception. Letters show reader engagement and interest in the newspaper’s subject area. They also provide additional, though unintended, flattery that writers and readers deem the paper a worthy vehicle.
The Producer published 456 letters in 2006, slightly more than in 2005. In 2007, with wheat board controversy generating lots of activity, we’ve already published 106.
In this issue, extra space has been provided for Open Forum, the better for writers to express their views before balloting ends on the federal barley plebiscite.
And there are also a few non-grain marketing-related letters to leaven the bread.
