DEMOCRACY AT HOME
In the beginning of 2014, Conservative Party of Canada sent out a circular to members that the party would have open nominations in preparation for the 2015 election. In June of this year a press release was sent out stating that (prime minister Stephen) Harper had approximately 100 of his MPs nominated. On that list is the name of the local MP, Robert Sopuck.
Did I miss something? Did anyone see, hear or read about an open nomination taking place in Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette?
So how did Robert Sopuck get nominated in 2014?
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Worrisome drop in grain prices
Prices had been softening for most of the previous month, but heading into the Labour Day long weekend, the price drops were startling.
This will be the third time that Robert Sopuck has been named by his party without going through a nomination process.
Robert Sopuck’s nomination was really a rubber stamp of approval from his leader, Stephen Harper. So much for democracy under Stephen Harper. I always thought that democracy should begin at home. Robert Sopuck has been a loyal mouthpiece for Stephen Harper during his years in Ottawa. Do you want four more years of the same?
Inky Mark, former MP,
Dauphin, Man.
OPEN THE BOOKS
In his latest op-ed (WP, July 3), John DePape, a critic of orderly marketing, ignores the fact many independent academics, transportation experts, and those with direct experience in grain marketing have all come to the conclusion the private grain trade has engineered one of the largest profit grabs in Canadian history thanks to the end of the single desk Canadian Wheat Board.
In spite of selective country elevators being plugged, the independent grain monitor reported the overall export grain/rail system was running at 95 percent capacity and just over 98 percent capacity to Vancouver. And somebody at (agriculture minister Gerry) Ritz’s CWB spilled the beans that the port price for #2 CWRS wheat was north of $11 per bushel.
Mr. DePape attempts to draw attention away from this by claiming the last year with the single-desk CWB was as bad. However, the single desk effectively died when Ritz broke his word and tabled legislation to kill the wheat board.
The farmer-elected directors were dismissed halfway through the 2010-11 crop year, Mr. DePape points out, which is when the speculators, brokers, and grain companies started to pick off farmers by offering forward contracts, and things have gotten much worse since.
Mr. DePape attempts a numbers game using the basis. Basis is supposedly the cost to finance, elevate, transport, clean, and load grain. Now there is no transparency and the basis numbers are simply whatever the grain companies, who happen to control the port terminals and heavily influence the futures market, say they are.
A while ago Mr. DePape was complaining about a lack of transparency from the private trade. How about forcing the western grain elevators cartel to disclose the prices they were actually getting each day during this crop year? The grain trains to Vancouver were running at 98 percent of capacity so somebody was moving a lot of grain and selling it, but it wasn’t farmers because we lose ownership of our grain as soon as we dump it at the country elevator.
Most people outside the private trade acknowledge that farmers are getting less than half of what the single-desk CWB got for them when it was operating. Let the elevator cartel prove them wrong by opening their books.
Ken Larsen,
LOOKING FORWARD
Re: Eric Sagan’s letter “Unusual wheat cheque”, WP July 10.
Mr. Sagan’s conspiracy theory is the latest example of how he and a small few will always remain stuck in the past.
Our government was elected on a platform to give western Canadian grain farmers the marketing freedom they wanted and deserved and we were proud to deliver on their behalf.
The fact is that the overwhelming majority of western Canadian farmers continue to take advantage of the increased opportunity that comes with marketing freedom. That is why we are seeing record operating incomes, increased acres of wheat and barley planted, and record exports of top quality wheat and barley.
At every step, Canadian courts continue to uphold a farmer’s right to make their living from the open market.
Mr. Sagan and his CWBA (Canadian Wheat Board Alliance) friends continue to lose case after case before the courts, and in doing so continue to prove that not only is marketing freedom the law of the land, but it is here to stay.
Had Mr. Sagan bothered to check on the CWB website, he would know that during the final reconciliation of the 2011-12 pools, it was found that accruals were too high with respect to both the wheat and durum pools. The result is that additional monies were available for farmers, and an additional payment was paid to eligible farmers by the end of May 2014.
His mischaracterization of the facts is disappointing but is par for the course for the CWBA.
Thanks to marketing freedom, the days of farmers waiting months for cheques in the mail from the old single desk are now history.
Our government will continue to support and work with the overwhelming majority of farmers who are ambitious and looking to the increased opportunities of the future, not stuck in the past.
Gerry Ritz,
agriculture minister,
Ottawa, Ont.
