The Western Producer takes a weekly look at some of the stories that made headlines in issues of the paper from 75, 50, 25 and 10 years ago.
75 years ago: Nov. 27, 1941
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool set about distributing petitions across the province that called on the dominion government to meet farmers’ agricultural policy demands, but heavy snow across all parts of the province made the effort slow going as ordinary means of transportation were tied up.
Sixty-seven credit unions were now incorporated in Saskatchewan with 15 organized in 1941. Thirty-five were rural community based, 18 were occupational and 14 were associational with membership based on co-operative, racial, religious or professional affiliation.
Read Also
Proactive approach best bet with looming catastrophes
The Pan-Canadian Action Plan on African swine fever has been developed to avoid the worst case scenario — a total loss ofmarket access.
50 years ago: Nov.24, 1966
Larry Gray, president of Sask-atchewan Co-operative Creameries and a director with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, said housewives who were protesting the high cost of living by picketing grocery stores were picking the wrong target. “I hear no complaint about the cost of a hard-top convertible, reserved seats for the football game or piped-in television, but the cost of bread; no reference to the price of a bottle of liquor or carbonated beverage, but the price of a bottle of milk; no concern about the cost of golf balls, but the cost of meat balls,” he said.
Saskatchewan and Manitoba farmers had harvested one of their better crops, but few exhibits won major prizes in field crop judging at the Royal in Toronto because many exhibits from those provinces were lost in transit due to a mix up. Alberta had better luck, and its farmers won several championships and reserves at the fair.
25 years ago: Nov. 28, 1991
Alberta Wheat Pool’s profits increased 31 percent to $7.7 million, but chief executive officer Don Heasman said it wasn’t enough to take the company into the 1990s. “As an organization our size, we need somewhere in the neighbourhood of $25 to $35 million a year … to sustain capital needs for the foreseeable future,” he said.
Seventy unionized grain handlers and railway workers blocked a train that was carrying barley from Vancouver to Seattle. The union members were upset with the Canadian Wheat Board’s decision to start exporting grain through U.S. ports. Burlington Northern Railroad eventually won a court injunction ordering the pickets to stop holding up the train.
10 years ago: Nov. 23, 2006
The Manitoba and Saskatchewan governments — both of NDP persuasion — planned to conduct plebiscites on the federal government’s plan to eliminate the wheat board’s single desk monopoly power. Ottawa was refusing to hold such a vote among prairie farmers as it moved to reform the board.
Maple Leaf Foods CEO Michael McCain stuck to his guns on the company’s decision not to sell its soon-to-be-closed hog packing plant in Saskatoon. McCain said there was too much capacity in the system, and the Saskatoon plant had to close for the good of the industry.
