FYI everyone.-CG
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FEBRUARY 22, 2007
ATAMANENKO ASKS PRIVACY OFFICER TO ADDRESSBARLEY PLEBISCITE CONCERNS>
OTTAWA – NDP Wheat Board Critic Alex Atamanenko (British Columbia Southern Interior) sent a letter to the Privacy commissioner and the Ethics commissioner, asking that concerns over voters’ privacy and ethical concerns are addressed.>
“There are some very serious questions about how serious the Ministry of Agriculture is about the privacy of farmers’ who are voting in the plebiscite,” said Atamanenko.”Minister Strahl must explain why he feels that farmers’ votes should not protected by stringent privacy rules contained under the elections Canada Act.”
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Conservative MP’s Using Discredited Information to Attack CWB
Fri 23 Feb 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEOTTAWA – NDP Agriculture critic, Alex Atamanenko, MP – BC Southern Interior - is criticizing the Conservatives for misleading the public in their communications. “Conservative MP’s are using discredited information in flyers to their constituents, on their websites and in media interviews to attack the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB)”, stated Atamanenko.
The Conservatives claim that Algeria receives preferential low prices from the CWB at the expense of Canadian farmers was first made by the US Wheat Association (USWA) who misquoted an Algerian Official as the result of an inaccurate translation. “The USWA has since retracted and apologized for this error and Conservative M.P.’s should stop repeating this false allegation and apologize to the CWB”, demanded Atamanenko.
Atamanenko says Conservatives should also stop using spot barley prices from the US market in their communications to imply that farmers could get higher prices without the CWB. “A good analogy can be found by comparing spot barley prices with what occurs in the stock market. As we all know not everyone is able to access a high price on a stock in one particular day,” stated the NDP Agriculture critic.
The CWB prices reflect a pooled price made up of sales made last spring averaged with some sales being made at the current high spot prices.Atamanenko points to an article in the Star Phoenix by Richard Grey, Professor of agricultural economics at the University of Saskatchewan, who writes about the results of an extensive study which found that the posted daily U.S barley prices have little to do with the price actually received by farmers. Professor Gray says that without the CWB’s single desk powers the high premiums farmers now receive for malting barley prices would quickly fall to prices close to feed barley levels. Atamanenko recommends visiting www.kis.usask.ca to access this study.
Atamanenko is also concerned about several anti-CWB websites sporting similar domain names to the official barley plebiscite that have been created to intercept people looking for information on the internet. “Even the official barley plebiscite website, which should be providing links to information on all sides of the debate or none at all, only directs them to the government’s point of view,” said Atamanenko. “In a fair fight the CWB would be able to defend itself against all the false information being issued, but they have been muzzled by the Minister of Agriculture’s gag order”.
Farmer organizations have put together a website called www.savemycwb.ca to counter the websites offering false information on the barley plebiscite. “I urge everyone to double check their information sources and make sure there are hard facts behind information that affects how they are choosing to vote in the plebiscite,” concluded Atamanenko. “The marketing future of ordinary farmers absolutely depends on it”.
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Some farmers worried barley vote won't be private
Last Updated: Friday, February 16, 2007 7:56 AM CT
CBC NewsSome farmers say they're worried about the confidentiality of ballots in Ottawa's barley plebiscite.
The federal government is asking Prairie farmers if they want to change the way barley is marketed and has sent out ballots with identification numbers that match numbers on voter declaration forms.
Bill Kruzko, who farms near Maple Creek, Sask., is among those who say they're not comfortable with the system.
"They'll know exactly how every producer in Canada voted because it has the identification number at the bottom of the ballot," he said.
There must be other ways of cross-checking information without putting identification numbers on the ballot, Kruzko said.
However, the accounting firm handling the plebiscite insists it's a good system and farmers have no reason to worry about the confidentiality of their votes.
KPMG spokesman Jeff Thomas said the vote is secret, even though there is a number on each ballot that identifies the farmer to whom it was sent.
Thomas, one of several accountants at KPMG who developed the form which allows farmers to declare their eligibility to vote, said it was imperative to have a system that verifies the authenticity of the information.
The firm had to have a way to trace the ballots of those declared ineligible to vote, but even with the identification number, the vote remains secret.
"Certainly with a combination of the information technology controls, the physical access controls, and the procedures that we are using, we can maintain that confidentiality and still provide for an efficient process and a timely tabulation," he said.
Meanwhile, voting for wheat board directors is handled somewhat differently, an official says.
Peter Eckersley, the election co-ordinator for the wheat board's director elections, says they used computer bar codes on the return envelopes.
"The Canadian Wheat Board Act and its related regulations specifically prohibits there being any mark on the ballot which could be used to identify the voter," he said.
However, the act does not apply to plebiscites so the rules could be different, Eckersley said.
The plebiscite asks barley farmers if they want to keep the existing system where the wheat board has a monopoly on barley exports, to stop the board from marketing barley, or to have a choice of marketing their barley through the wheat board or others.
The Conservative government says it's committed to giving "marketing choice" to farmers so they can get the best grain prices, but some farmers believe they already get the best prices from the wheat board and are worried change could hurt their bottom line.
Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl has said a plebiscite on wheat could be held at some point, but not any time soon.
Barley ballots were mailed out Feb. 7 and must be returned by March 13.
