Randy Nelson, a former Yorkton schoolteacher and NDP MLA from 1975-1982, looks at the history of marketing organizations.
I can’t help wonder about the controversy over the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB). It has been around, off and on, in various entities since 1915. In 1915 the federal government, took control of the Board of Grain Commissioners and organized it as a Board of Grain Supervisors to keep the price of grain from rising too much during World War I.
It was recreated as the CWB in 1935 to help farmers facing disaster during the depression. It was never very successful because sales through the board were voluntary. But during World War II, it was called into service as a compulsory grain sales organization to once again make farmers help the war effort.
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Since the end of the second war, there have been consistent efforts to weaken the CWB. These efforts have been led by the grain trade and are now strongly supported by the Harper government.
By far the greatest number of farmer representatives elected to the board have been in favour of keeping and strengthening it. Some elected board members, who originally opposed the compulsory aspect of the operation, changed their opinion and fully supported a stronger organization. There must be strong reasons why so many famers are eager to maintain the CWB.
To understand farmers’ support, despite the combined efforts of the grain trade and the government, one has to look at organizations somewhat similar to the CWB.
If you wonder about the high price of gasoline and natural gas, you must look at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). It is an organization that was formed by many oil-producing countries in 1960. And, like the CWB, it has withstood the test of time despite the fact that the governments of many of the countries involved are somewhat unpredictable.
Before OPEC was formed, corporations took oil from these countries at prices as low as ten cents a barrel and sold it here at $3.50 a barrel. By 1973 the OPEC countries became fully organized and they took control. They increased oil prices suddenly causing somewhat of an economic crisis in the industrialized world. No more ten-cent-a barrel oil.
Closer to home is Canpotex, the Canadian potash exporters group. Its members, Agrium, Mosaic, and Potash Corp., control 40 percent of global sales of potash. The obvious objective of Canpotex is to maximize profits for potash producing companies. …
Separately, nations couldn’t deal with large corporations to their satisfaction. How do individual farmers hope to get the best prices by themselves? Besides, without the CWB, farmers would have to sell their grain only through huge multinational corporations…
Everyone knows that it is the legal mandate of every board member and every CEO to maximize the profits of their company. These companies have no legal duty to anyone but their shareholders/owners. Certainly private companies might well take a loss for a time in order to force opponents out of business, but that’s the reason a voluntary CWB is unworkable.
It isn’t surprising that the grain companies want to shut down the CWB. That is in their best interest. But knowing the success of the likes of OPEC and Canpotex, it is very surprising that the Harper government strongly supports the almost certain destruction of the CWB that is most beneficial to their strongest political supporters.
It seems that Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall understands the value of organizations like the CWB. When BHP Billiton attempted a hostile takeover of Potash Corp, Wall made his support for Potash Corp partly contingent on that company remaining in Canpotex. …
And Prime Minister Stephen Harper certainly knows the value of Canpotex, OPEC and CWB to their stakeholders. Yet his government has, among other things, cut many farmers from the voting lists for CWB board elections. He refuses to allow CWB board members to speak at meetings in support of the board. On the other hand, David Anderson, MP for Cypress-Hill Grassland, and Brad Trost MP for Saskatoon Humboldt, both speak constantly against it.
Harper has said that he can’t do everything he wants unless he has a majority government. One obvious thing he wants to do is to get rid of the CWB. And if farmers wish to save the CWB, their best marketing tool, they must speak to their neighbours. They must write to their MPs. Above all, voting is their major tool for protecting their rights.
Former Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas once said, “Politicians can hear a ballot dropping in a ballot box thousands of miles away.” Unless farmers and their supporters use every tool at their command to fight for the CWB, I’m afraid their economic situation will greatly deteriorate.
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Harper has said that he can’t do everything he wants unless he has a majority government. One obvious thing he
wants to do is to get rid of the CWB.
