CWB turmoil
Interesting to see on page one in the Dec. 7 issue the Canadian Wheat Board mentioning the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Now the CWB wants to use for their own purpose what they have denied us for so long? Give me a break, gents.
Vote on the CWB monopoly? Give me another break. I cannot see why the majority should decide over the marketing of my grain, as it is only the top grades that I can sell easily myself
The CWB in a dual marketing system? Right, break me again. With what are they going to market our grain? The CWB owns nothing in cash (or) assets, other than grain assets any middle sized grain company has, structures and so on. All the CWB has is farmers’ property and whoever wants to see the CWB continue should vote after declaration of each farmers share in the CWB’s assets by our government with leaving the funds in the CWB or move them out. It will then be shown quickly where farmers’ love and dedication to the CWB is.
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Farmer ownership cannot be seen as a guarantee for success
It’s a powerful movement when people band together to form co-ops and credit unions, but member ownership is no guarantee of success.
Long and short: get this old cow to market before we find out it has BSE. Remember: change is good.
– Joerg Klempnauer,
Grassy Lake, Alta.
Gone too far
Definition: Any system of government in which property is privately owned, but all industry and labour is regulated by a strong national government, while all opposition is rigorously suppressed.
First, agriculture and Canadian Wheat Board minister Chuck Strahl holds a meeting in July of only anti-CWB interests to develop a plan to end the single desk.
Next, the minister puts together a task force that included people who were clearly in conflict of interest because the companies they represented would benefit financially from the end of the single desk, to come up with a method to implement the plan.
Next, the minister eliminates 16,000 names from the voters list in the CWB director elections.
Next, the minister places a gag order on the CWB, which prevented it from using any of its resources to defend its position during the debate.
Next, the minister removes all appointed directors who are in favour of the single desk and replaces them with people who are willing to follow the government views.
Now, the minister is challenging 32-year veteran and CEO Adrian Measner, to either embrace the Harper government’s vision for the CWB or they will replace him with someone who does.
This has gone too far. The voice of reason must be heard. Mr. Strahl and the Harper government have wiped their feet on democracy long enough. By the way, the word that belongs to the definition is fascism.
This is not the government that I voted for and I hope it is not the government that you voted for either. Our only hope is that now that the Liberals have a new leader, the three opposition parties can join forces and end this silliness as soon as possible.
– George Graham,
Foxwarren, Man.
Stop bickering
As a Canadian farmer and a CWB permit book holder, I am ashamed as to where the CWB is being pushed and shoved by government officials.
After putting in 42 years on this farm, I can say this has been a horrific year for us. Finally grain prices were just starting to rise to almost cover some of my cost of production. And now, thanks to the very public bickering and back biting going on in the media and on the world stage, the prices of my commodities are probably going to plummet again. Thank you so much for the help.
The CAIS program certainly isn’t going to help when it is government actions and attitude contributing to the downward movement of grain prices.
As a farmer I would like to see a more co-operative attitude from all parties, including the producers. I believe that more discussion is definitely needed for everyone to be working together. I am seeing several separate agendas and none of them seem to be working for my benefit.
United we stand, divided we fall.
– Eugene Bouvier,
Lisieux, Sask.
Negative vibes
I was quite surprised at Stephane Dion’s recent statement that if the present Conservative government should terminate the wheat board, a newly elected Liberal government would reinstate the board.
Amazing how the new Liberal leader is suddenly concerned with the affairs of the West. Just a while ago, Mr. Dion was willing to embark Canada on the Kyoto agreement, bringing forth legislation that would have literally terminated the tar sands project in Alberta.
I won’t go into the negative vibes that the likes of Mr. Dion and other proponents of Kyoto have exhibited toward the development of uranium mining and nuclear generated electricity – uranium that is mined in northern Saskatchewan, and that a lot of our residents depend upon for their bread and butter.
Where was Mr. Dion when the logging industry of British Columbia needed a settlement on the softwood lumber disputes with the United States?
If Mr. Dion really wants to reverse past legislation that will help the wheat board, and other forms of agriculture, he might want to review the termination of the Crow Rate agreement.
The Net Income Stabilization Account program was also on the farmers’ side, as were bushels, gallons, acres and miles.
God save us from another Liberal government.
– John J. Hamon,
Gravelbourg, Sask.
Hello, Quisling
History shows that the first strike against democracy by those in authority is to curtail freedom of speech. Imagine threatening to fire Adrian Measner because he spoke out in favour of the Canadian Wheat Board.
It is the responsibility of the CEO of every company to defend and promote their company. Measner was doing exactly that and was placing the truth before the public.
History also records that the next blow, by those in authority, against democracy is to replace those who differ in opinion from them with a Quisling, one who will do their bidding no matter what.
How many Quislings will it take to finally destroy the CWB?
– Ted Turner,
Regina, Sask.
Question info
I feel sorry for my MP, David Anderson, and the minister of agriculture, Mr. Strahl, because they have to work with and depend on the staff assigned to them.
I wish to refer to a recent press release prepared by Mr. Strahl’s staff. They dusted off the old Carter report which met with such severe criticism (that) even the author admitted to its shortcomings, its inaccuracies. As Mr. Strahl has not farmed, one should expect he would not recognize the flaws in his press release.
In Mr. Anderson’s case, with so many letters to answer, I presume he does not have time to read them. In a recent letter sent to me by his staff, they made several questionable statements. I will use two as examples.
“We believe producers’ choice should include a strong and viable Canadian Wheat Board.” It is common knowledge and a generally understood fact (that) in an open market environment there will be no CWB doing the work it does now. They still include that sentence in his letters.
Another quote: “Canola farmers can and will continue to load their own producer cars.” With my understanding of the transportation and marketplace, I was surprised, even dumbfounded by that statement.
I checked it out. Not one producer car of canola was shipped from the three prairie provinces last year. … The effect the open market environment has on canola producer cars shows the effect that open market wheat and barley would have on producer cars.
If I had not known better, I would have swallowed the lie about canola cars. …
With the assistance of the CWB, there were 11,000 producer cars of wheat and barley shipped last year. I have loaded producer cars when we used to have a rail line into Riverhurst. If I would load producer cars at Riverhurst, at today’s prices, I think I would save about $2,000 per car.
Back to the press release inferring the CWB does no good. We have just reviewed one of many points his staff chooses to ignore.
– Lorne Jackson,
Riverhurst, Sask.
Another way
To the Editor:
I am a farmer in southern Saskatchewan, went to the University of Saskatchewan in the 1960s and started farming in 1968 with my brother. It was that same year that we started a custom-combining run in the U.S. and Canada.
When I was in Oklahoma, I began to see there was another way to market a farmer’s grain as compared to our quota system. The farmers in Oklahoma delivered almost all their grain to the elevator right off the combine.
There was generally a couple of elevator companies trying to get the farmer’s grain, usually a co-op and a private company. So the farmer would usually haul to the one with the highest price and sometimes there was a loyalty that would disregard the price.
The farmer could sell it all right away, take a loan on it or future price it. Most sold enough to pay the current bills.
In August that year we returned to the wonderful Canadian Wheat Board marketing system. Remember the “units” Ð each farmer could sell 400 bushels in harvest time. Then for the whole rest of the crop year, the CWB gave us a quota. It was four bu. to the cultivated acre including summer fallow. Some farmers had stored their grain for eight years by 1973.
Over the years I have wondered when and how did we come to be under the control of the CWB….
The history of the CWB, it seems, is written to cloud the fact that all three times it was established to keep the price of grain down. Farmers in Canada were to do their honourable duty by accepting a price for their grain which was lower than the market price. The only way this could be accomplished was for the federal government to have a monopoly via the CWB on all the wheat sold. Isn’t socialism a greedy thing and so deceitful?
I saw a picture in the paper the other day of a fellow who looked quite angry. It seems he was saying the federal government didn’t have the right to give anyone a choice to sell outside the CWB, only farmers have that right.
Wasn’t it the federal government that established the monopoly? The farmers didn’t vote then. And I don’t think the government wants to take anything from the socialists. They could still pool their grain and have the CWB sell it if they wish.
The only difference will be that a few of us freedom-loving capitalists will be able to sell the grain we grow if we want to and we could sell to the CWB too if we wanted to. We call it a choice.
And where in the world do the socialists get the moral or democratic or any other right to force me, a farmer, to add my grain to their pile so they can have monopoly over it?…
Let’s get it right this time. Stand tall and firm, Mr. Strahl. We did vote for your government because you offered us the first real hope of being free from the CWB monopoly in about 90 years.
– Cliff Petersen,
Mazenod, Sask.
Location matters
A key to the current Canadian Wheat Board debate is embodied in High Level, Alta., farmer Gerry Agnew’s quote, “why should a southern Alberta farmer have a better chance to market his product than I do?” (Open Forum, Nov. 23.)
Well, Gerry, it’s called location.
My family came to this country 100 years ago. Some bought marginal land a couple of miles out of the big town of Calgary; the others went to promising farmland in central Saskatchewan.
Recently Uncle Gus’s family sold his quarter for $6 million. Uncle Hans’s descendents can’t get $60,000 for his quarter.
Location, location, location.
An enterprising friend continuously tried to raise corn silage in our area and gets a reasonable crop once in awhile. Another friend near Medicine Hat, with lots of heat units and water, gets a huge crop every year. Should they be forced to share?
Location, location, location.
My son farms near one of Alberta’s big feedlots. He gets the same price for his barley, but his trucking costs are minuscule. Should he be made to contribute to a trucking fund?…
If prairie farmers want to share their profits via the CWB, that’s great and honourable. But some are getting tired of kicking in their advantage to cover the disadvantages of other producers. Why can’t they benefit from location, location, location?
– Vern Hoff,
Gleichen, Alta.
Price takers
I have been reading pros and cons regarding the Canadian Wheat Board. In this last issue of the Western Producer I’ve been reminded of the demise of the Crow Rate. That was a blow to farmers.
That was the first nail in the Canadian farmer’s apple cart.
Before the CWB, we had the Winnipeg Grain Exchange. For example, a country came to get our wheat. It was 60 cents a bushel. These people would pay 58 cents, the next buyer would offer 56 cents and so on. The person had no control of what they had to sell. That’s when the CWB was formed. …
If the wheat board is defeated, that’s what they’ll have again. (The farmer) may get $1 a bu., $10, or down to what wheat was sold at in 1930s. The farmer had no control of what he would get for his wheat. You took what they gave you.
I see by some of the letters that they think this didn’t happen. It did, and you don’t forget.
Do some of those who want an open market want corporate farming? We don’t need the government telling farmers what to do. Likely most of them never have been on a farm. Living on a farm is a good place to raise your family.
If you get a fair price for what you grow, where would our food be imported from?
People can’t be only thinking of the benefits to themselves.
Enough said.
– Eda Satre,
Westerose, Alta.
