The CWB Speaks......

The CWB is not going to roll over and play dead for the Conservatives. -cg

It's un-Canadian not to give farmers a say in wheat board's future: president

Michelle Macafee
Canadian Press

Friday, October 20, 2006

WINNIPEG (CP) - It would be un-Canadian for the federal government to quash the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly without first consulting farmers, board president Adrian Measner said Thursday.

In a pointed address to the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, Measner said any unilateral decision by the Conservatives would make a mockery of farmers' democratic rights.
"We're being told that government will proceed with the implementation of its election promise to create an open market for wheat and barley, regardless of what a majority of farmers think," said Measner.

"This is as wrong as it is un-Canadian."

He concluded his speech by saying the issue is about "democracy and the economic future of Western Canada and, in the final analysis, it's about being Canadian and doing what's right."
The board has been at loggerheads with the federal Conservatives ever since federal Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl appointed a task force last month to recommend ways to end the board's monopoly on wheat and barley exports.

Measner and other executives have said the Canadian Wheat Board Act requires a plebiscite before the monopolies are removed, and that a vote should have been held even before the task force set to work.

Strahl has said he wants to see the committee's recommendations before deciding whether to let farmers vote.

He and other Tories have said some changes can be made without a plebiscite and that the party has a mandate from voters because its intentions were clear in its election platform.
Measner said the government shouldn't mistake votes in last January's federal election for support for this particular platform plank.

"There was gun control, there was the performance of the previous government - there are just a whole bunch of other factors in an election," said Measner.

"I think it's unfair to say it (the federal election) was run on the CWB issue."
The board's monopoly has long divided Western Canadian farmers.

Supporters say the board - which is the marketing agent for 85,000 producers - is the best option in a fiercely competitive global grain industry.

But plenty of farmers oppose the board's monopoly, saying they want the right to try to get better prices on their own.

During an appearance on a Winnipeg radio call-in show, a caller named "Jim" challenged Measner and the wheat board .

"We know how to do business out here in the rural," Jim said.
"We don't need the elitist sort of control of an Adrian Measner telling us how to grow our grain and market it."

The debate over the future of the board is being watched closely by prominent international wheat customers.

Warburton's Bakery, the biggest bakery in the United Kingdom, has wheat board contracts with 750 Prairie farmers to produce about 250,000 tonnes of wheat a year.

Executive director Brett Warburton, who heard Measner's speech, said Warburton has been more than pleased with the service it gets from the board.

While the relationship has been challenging at times, he said the board's ability to meet its contracts - even in poor crop years - is invaluable.

"We're a bit nervous about any changes that would take place," said Warburton.
He said the company relies on Canada exclusively for its grain imports, and he fears having to look to other countries to fill its orders.

"If you lose a customer for one year it can be lost for a long time beyond that."
Measner said he's confident his speech did not violate a recent government ban that forbids the board from advocating in favour of its monopoly.

The order specifically bans the board from spending money on advertising, publishing or market research, but does not prevent individual farmers or executives from expressing their views.
In his speech, Measner also tried to rally support from the business audience by pointing out the board's net impact on the Manitoba economy was pegged at $210 million in 2004.

He said the loss of the board's single desk will leave Winnipeg and Manitoba with "another bunch of downtown vacancies and empty office towers to fill" due to consolidation in the grain industry.
© The Canadian Press 2006