Hundreds rally downtown to support CWB

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/10/2011 (5270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

About 300 farmers and their supporters staged a downtown rally in support of the Canadian Wheat Board this afternoon.

Grain growers were joined by union representatives, federal and provincial NDP and Liberal politicians, representatives of the Council of Canadians and even members of the Occupy Winnipeg movement in decrying a federal bill before the House of Commons that would destroy the Canadian Wheat Board by ending its wheat and barley sales monopoly.

They are also upset that Ottawa is moving forward with Bill C-18 without a vote among Prairie farmers. The CWB has launched a lawsuit against the government arguing that it broke the law by introducing the legislation without a vote by Prairie farmers.

Canadian author and activist Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, was the lead speaker at the rally downtown to support the wheat board’s stance against the Harper government.

The federal Conservatives tabled legislation to end the monopoly on marketing prairie wheat in the House of Commons Oct. 18. With a Tory majority, the law could pass by Christmas. The wheat board is taking Ottawa to court and Barlow’s appearance at the rally today is the latest salvo the two groups are lobbing across the government’s bow.

Drew Baker, a fifth-generation farmer from Beausejour, told the crowd that he is upset at not having a say over the future of the CWB.

“Why can’t we just have a vote on this?” he said.

Baker said if the Harper government truly reprsented farmers, as it claims, it would hold a vote.

Earlier, about 140 farmers and other Canadian Wheat Board supporters gathered at Red River Exhibition Park this morning in support of the grain marketing agency. From there a procession of vehicles proceeded to the rally downtown.

Rudy Ammeter, a Headingley area farmer who was at the Red River Exhibition Park, said he was there because he feels Ottawa should have conducted a vote among Prairie grain growers before introducing the legislation, as required by federal law.

He said he’s upset that the government plans to fire all of the board’s farmer-elected directors as soon as Bill C-18 is passed. Ottawa’s intent is to end the CWB’s sales monopoly by Aug. 1.

“I think the whole thing has been handled badly (by the government) right from the start,” Ammeter said.

The CWB and eight of its farmer directors have filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging Ottawa’s legislation. They say it’s illegal because the feds failed to hold a farmer vote.

The rally was organized by the National Farmers Union, the Canadian Wheat Board Alliance and a group called Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board.

 

— with files from staff