Grits Defend Wheat Board

[FiveParadox]

Today, The Honourable Wayne Easter, P.C., M.P., the Member for Malpeque and the Agriculture Critic for Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, joined farmers; they are demanding that the Government of Canada end its efforts to shut down the Canadian Wheat Board.

The Government, the Critic contends, is attempting to destroy the Wheat Board through undemocratic means—the Government today held a meeting, chaired by Mr. David Anderson, P.C., M.P., the Member for Cypress Hills—Grasslands and the Parliamentary Secretary for the Canadian Wheat Board, to discuss the future of the Board, with large-farm owners, in favour of a dual marketing system for barley and wheat. Such a system would mean, in Mr. Easter's opinion, the destruction of the Wheat Board.

The Hon. Wayne Easter[/color], P.C., M.P.,]The government has a legal and binding obligation under the Canadian Wheat Board Act to consult with the Board of Directors and to put to a vote any initiative which would alter the mandate of the Wheat Board with respect to single desk selling. [...] The future of the Wheat Board should be decided through a plebiscite, giving all producers, large and small, a chance to exercise their right.

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Since the Government excluded small-farm owners from the meeting, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and the National Farmers Union organized a meeting in the Province of Saskatchewan, to be held parallel to the Government's exclusive meeting. I would certainly agree with the Critic's concern that the Government may be proceeding along a disastrous course of action without considering the needs of everyone in the agriculture industry.

:?: Sources
1. Click here for the Web site of the Liberal Party of Canada.

 

[Toro]

RE: Grits Defend Wheat Bo

Yes, the wheat board as a legal monopoly should be abandoned. Its ridiculous that any producer of anything in Canada must be forced to sell his or her goods to a single, government entity.

Its often in the best interest of the farmer to be a part of an organization that increases his bargaining power, but its bizarre in this day and age, in a Western democracy, that such a coercive commercial arrangement exists.