Two referendums, many similarities

Last month, the people of Quebec voted on whether to remain part of Canada.

This month, Alberta farmers get a chance to vote on the future of the wheat board.

Those are two quite different groups and issues, but there are some intriguing similarities between the two votes.

Each vote was called by a provincial government that was doing all it could to manipulate the process to produce a vote in favor of its policy. Just as the separatist government of Quebec slanted its question to ask Quebecers to vote for a “sovereign” Quebec, the Conservative government of Alberta is asking farmers to vote for the “freedom” to export grain without going through the board.

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Quebec separatists preferred to talk about the fuzzy concept of sovereignty rather than the economic suffering and political turmoil that would be involved in separation from Canada.

Alberta Conservatives prefer to talk about freedom rather than how their policy would, if implemented by Ottawa, inevitably lead to the destruction of a system of orderly marketing that is the envy of other nations.

Without the assurance of guaranteed supplies, the Canadian Wheat Board would be unable to undertake the long-term sales programs and comprehensive market development that have been of immense benefit to farmers. Collectively, farmers would lose substantially, even though a comparative few might achieve higher-than-average prices in certain years.

Another parallel between the two referendums has been the self-serving, parochial attempt to exclude viewpoints from other provinces.

Quebec premier Jacques Parizeau complained about other Canadians coming to Montreal to call for national unity; Alberta agriculture minister Walter Paszkowski threatens counter-measures if outsiders like the wheat board intrude on his turf.

But there is one potential parallel between the two referendums that has not yet been determined.

In the case of the Quebec vote, prime minister Jean ChrŽtien allowed the separatist movement to gain the lead in opinion polls because he didn’t take it seriously enough earlier. ChrŽtien did not jump energetically into the debate until it became clear that the forces for national unity were in desperate straits.

Will the same be said of federal agriculture minister Ralph Goodale and wheat board chief commissioner Lorne Hehn? In recent weeks both have seemed to display a tendency to shrug off the challenge to board powers.

Goodale rightly notes the Alberta vote is about something within federal jurisdiction – ignoring the fact that a vote for “freedom” would increase political pressures to gut the wheat board and could encourage Alberta’s government to launch a constitutional guerrilla war.

Hehn, meanwhile, has been almost silent while a few score farmers in carefully orchestrated convoys deliver grain illegally to U.S. elevators, exploiting grading differences and claiming the results prove they can market grain better than the board

Can a convoy of farmers really outsell the board? Or are these just smoke-and-mirrors publicity stunts?

Alberta farmers deserve some straight talk from the board on what the facts are. Now.