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JULY 14, 2011 | WWW.PRODUCER.COM | THE WESTERN PRODUCER
OPEN FORUM LETTERS POLICY: Letters should be less than 300 words. Name, address and phone number must be included for verification purposes and only letters accepted for publication will be confirmed with the author. Open letters should be avoided; priority will be given to letters written exclusively for the Producer. Editors reserve the right to reject or edit any letter for clarity, brevity, legality and good taste. Cuts will be indicated by ellipsis (…) Publication of a letter does not imply endorsement by the Producer.
FREEDOM TO CHOOSE To the Editor: I would like to respond to J.W. Zunti’s letter in the June 9 issue of The Western Producer. Our government has always been clear that western Canadian grain farmers deserve the freedom to choose how they market their grain. We believe farmers are best equipped to make their own business decisions. The goal of the changes to the Canadian Wheat Board is to give farmers the right to choose how they market
their grain. By opening the market, we are giving western grain farmers the same freedom and opportunity to make their own business decisions and market their grain as farmers in the rest of Canada and around the world have. Farmers were not allowed to vote when the CWB was imposed upon them in the 1940s, and they did not g e t a v o t e i n 1 9 9 8 w h e n R a lp h Goodale completely rewrote the CWB legislation. I would like to point out that we just had the biggest referendum there could be — a general election. Our government has always put access=subscriber section=opinion,none,none
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farmers first, which is why western Canadians gave this government a strong majority mandate. Now they expect us to deliver on our commitments. We have always been clear — we support the right of western Canadian farmers to market their own grain. The federal government has the authority to rescind the CWB Act if that is what Parliament feels is appropriate. There is nothing that says that rescinding the CWB Act is subject to a plebiscite. The CWB needs to stop refusing to acknowledge that all farmers deserve the right to choose how to market their grain. Our government is committed to creating an open market that attracts investment, encourages innovation, creates value-added jobs and builds a stronger economy. Western Canadian grain farmers want an alternative to the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly and we are working hard to give them that. David Anderson, MP, parliamentary secretary for the Canadian Wheat Board
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Everybody knows the Conservatives hate the Canadian Wheat Board. It starts with Stephen Harper and goes all of the way down the line to every prairie MP that was elected in May. So, it’s no surprise to hear they want to get rid of the single desk, and that they want to do it as soon as their friends in the grain industry will let them. Still, it’s hard to stomach some of the comments that come out of Gerry Ritz’s mouth, when he responds to those who won’t just stand by while the government steamrolls the board out of existence. All this added investment and innovation that he’s talking about when the single desk is gone — where’s it going to come from and who is it going to benefit? I know buyers won’t be paying any more for our grain when there are 50,000 of us selling wheat and barley on our own instead of through the board. And since when is it “excessive fear mongering” to want producers to have our say? Ritz is the one who’s afraid: afraid of the way grain producers would vote if we were asked a clear question on how we want our grain to be sold, on the open market or through the single desk. Any delays caused by a producer vote would do a lot less to damage to the board’s “competitiveness,” as if Ritz really cared about that, than the Harper government’s pig-headed determination to have its way. Gerald Nedjelski, Kelvington, Sask.
not follow that in the same name of freedom people where unions are present should be free to negotiate the sale individually of their time and labour? Lars E. Rude, Tofield, Alta.
ORDERLY MARKETER To the Editor: Over the past 100 years we have had five different models of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) operating in Western Canada. The first and second versions were government mandated and run. The third version was a voluntary farmerrun co-operative, which failed and at the time was the largest bankruptcy in Canadian history. The fourth was a voluntary government mandated version, which also failed, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. The fifth model is the orderly marketer of today that has provided extra money and stability to farmers since 1943, with a change in the control structure that put farmers squarely in control in 1998. Those changes in 1998 also guaranteed western farmers they would have a vote on significant changes to the CWB — especially the kind of destructive changes that the Harper government is now proposing. It is clear that the Conservative government has been holding out a false promise to farmers — the promise of the “dual market” — and they have no analysis or plan to put before farmers…. Rather than name calling and making other derogatory remarks, perhaps Gerry Ritz should be defining what he means by the terms “strong and viable.” It is astounding that after six years of daydreaming in government about a voluntary wheat board, the minister continues to rely on empty rhetoric. After six years, why can’t they answer the simplest questions about the negative effects their changes will have on farmers’ pocket books? The only position that the government pretends to be certain about is its desire not to hold a farmer vote on the subject. In fact, the Conservatives say they are prepared to repeal the CWB Act — winding up the CWB organization — simply to avoid Section 47.1 and the farmer vote. Without a vote … farmers will be left with something akin to Fast Gerry’s Discount Grain Company, with the large grain merchants cherry-picking the better markets and making price pooling impossible. Demand a clear, detailed explanation of how a weakened wheat board is supposed to survive when all similar boards have perished. And demand a vote — the vote that is guaranteed to farmers under Canadian law. Stewart Wells, Swift Current, Sask.
FREEDOM ISSUE To the Editor:
DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS
With the expected demise of the monopoly for the sale of wheat and barley with the Canadian Wheat Board as a freedom issue, would it
To the Editor: While I respect the Saskatchewan Party’s right to support an end to the