Farmers must have control of Wheat Board
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/06/2010 (5616 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A bill introduced by Liberal MP Ralph Goodale on Wednesday is a step in the right direction toward a strong, farmer-controlled Canadian Wheat Board.
As the Winnipeg Free Press reported last week, with his private member’s bill, Goodale wants to cut back on government appointees to the board, severely restrict the government’s ability to tell the board what to do and require the government to get the clear approval of Western Canadian farmers before doing anything to change the CWB’s monopoly on prairie grain.
Labelling the actions of the federal government “devious,” Goodale said Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are bent and determined to undermine and kill the board, any way they can.
As a result, he has proposed to reduce the number of government-appointed directors on the board from five to three, and limit the government’s ability to tell the board what to do in matters affecting either taxpayer financial guarantees or international trade agreements.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and the prime minister have long claimed breaking the CWB’s monopoly would be in the interests of Western Canadian grain producers, allowing them to freely sell their barley and wheat on an open market. But that position does not justify the government’s actions towards the board since Harper’s Conservatives took power in 2006.
As we have said on this page in the past, the board serves a useful purpose for Western Canadian farmers in an international marketplace distorted by subsidies.
However, this ongoing meddling by the federal Conservatives has proven that political parties should have limited access to its operation.
Farmers, not ideologically-driven governments and multinational corporations, should ultimately decide the board’s future.