Canada on south australian rural radio today

[malleefarmer]

Push on to remove Canadian single desk
Report: Will Ockenden

The push is on in Canada to dump its single desk for grain exports.

Younger farmers and the minority Government want the desk to go, but older farmers have the numbers.

Stephen Vandervalk is a 33 year old grain farmer from Alberta, and is also the vice president of a western Canadian grain lobby group.

He says recent changes to the voting system mean it's only a matter of time before the Canadian single desk is no more.

In this report: Canadian grain farmer Stephen Vandervalk

[railway]

I'm getting awfully discouraged with harper et al not coming through on their promise to end the cwb monopoly. What is it going to take to get out from under the board's thumb?

We are not even making any progress it seems.

How can the the voting system be changed? who has the power, Harper? or the directors?

[cchurch]

Yeah I can see how this can happen in Canada, because this is a minority rule country. We elect 'majority' governments with minority support, so it's only logical that we destroy the CWB because a few ideologues think that would be so cool.

[Fransisco]

What's logical is that we make it voluntary so farmers are free to sell their grain to whomever they choose. There is nothing logical about the government forcefully selling your grain on your behalf so that you consistently get below average returns.

[ColevilleH2S]

Frisco, talk about logical (insert rolling eyes here), what is that, the CWB is propped up by a federal law that applies only to the west half of the country? How is that tolerated? Why are we in a marketing prison and farmers on Ontario are not? I thought federal laws applied to all of the federation. But I guess I am just a dumb farmer and don't know any better.

[parsley]

Yes, well, Colleen Ross speaks for you at WTO. Breathe in. Breathe out.
Pars

[dalek]

Ooooh God Colleen fricking Ross. Don't remind me that twit's from Ontario. Was at a symposium a couple of years ago where she was up speaking about agriculture and sustainability in front of a bunch of yuppies and tree huggers and I don't think there was a farmer in the room that wouldn't have happily had our wives slap that moron silly.

[furrowtickler]

cchurch, how them cwb returns lookin this year? Look around, there is more than a few - but soon it will not matter, the doha rounds are about to knock the cwb out indefinitely.

[Burbert]

Young farmers are just that, young farmers, ripe to be taken advantage of and cheated, by grain companies and rail barons. A free and open market, that includes (2) railways and about (6) grain companies. No collusion in future, just price discovery, which will be, low. low, low, prices, after all there is lots and lots of grain out there. We only buy the best, from our friends and maybe a bottle of CC might grease the buyer up too. Oh what a wonderfilled future we kin look forward to, once the CW Board is in the history books. No more commies for us, just good old hard core big C Conservatisim! Way to go Kanadia, learn from Oz and the NZ experience....

[vvalk]

Yes Burbert your right all of us young impressionable farmers are so stupid. Can't see past those evil grain companies. It must really hurt when you have to seed all those unprofitable non board grains crop. Sucks for rotations, too bad you couldn't just grow cereal crops. Boy you must think the future of farming is doomed.