AGRIWEEK Aug 22:
An interesting rumor was making the rounds last week, to the extent that unsupported stories can be interesting. It held that Canadian Wheat Board chairman Oberg and the Seven Dwarfs (elected anti-dual-market directors) will see the producer ‘vote’ through, which will purport to show that a big majority of those returning their ‘ballots’ favor the present arrangements, the outcome being pre-ordained by the compilation of the voters’ list and the design of the question. Then they will give the government an ultimatum, something to the zoony effect that it must respect the will of farmers. The government will ignore it. The directors will then call a big press conference for a time selected for maximum political effect (as when the reform bill is presented, or perhaps as early as the resumption of parliament in mid-September) at which Oberg and his cohort will announce their resignations en masse. Martyrs to the noble and ancient cause of the centrally-planned Stasi-style western grain marketing system, they will claim they have been run over by the anti-democratic Harper juggernaut.
If so, they will thereby remove the biggest obstacle to the orderly reform, modernization and privatization of wheat and barley marketing. Ritz should and will be delighted.
Things are surely getting down to the wire. An informal working group appointed by the minister in July to advise the government on the changeover from the Board monopoly system has been given until Sept. 15 to produce a report, with legislation to amend or repeal the Canadian Wheat Board Act to appear in October. There are no Wheat Board representatives on the committee because the anti-government directors refused to allow Board CEO White to co-chair it, with deputy agriculture minister John Knubley. Members include Richard Phillips, executive director of the Grain Growers of Canada who represents grower organizations; Earl Geddes of the Canadian International Grains Institute; Canadian Grain Commission commissioner Murdoch MacKay; Paul Earl of the University of Manitoba; Jim Everson of the Canola Council of Canada; Gordon Bacon, CEO of Pulse Canada; and Howard Migie, a retired deputy minister.
The government has also called tenders for an audit of the Wheat Board’s books to find out what the real exposure is to unfunded liabilities such a severance and pension costs. The value for the auditing contract is estimated at $500,000 to $1 million. Bids are being considered only from pre-qualified suppliers and an early completion date is required.
This suggests, but does not necessarily mean, that closing down the whole Wheat Board is an option. The government should surely already know roughly what the accumulated liability is. On no account whatever should it prevent the Board from trying to continue on a voluntary basis. If the Board tries and does not succeed, it is an entirely different matter than being arbitrarily shut down.
Of course the government will not hang farmers out to dry, but most or all of any wind-up cost represents deferred expenses for which the Board did not make proper provision. It paid all the money it could to farmers instead, who over the years received higher returns for their grain than if the responsible thing had been done. Prices were maximized in order to maintain the Board’s popularity and acceptability. To put it another way, had responsible provision been made for future liabilities, returns would have been even less competitive with what growers in the U.S. and other countries received over many years.
‘Ballots’ in the Wheat Board’s alleged plebiscite on the single desk monopoly were to be postmarked by Aug. 24, the Board reminded recipients last week. The accounting firm of MNP which is running the poll will count the votes on Sept. 8 and 9 and results will be released Sept. 9.
The Board apparently will not, as is done in elections of farmer-directors, allow anyone to review the list, which is already shown to be manipulated. There are about 50,800 current Wheat Board delivery permit book holders. It becomes a puzzle as to who the 17,000 or so others on the 68,000-name list (equal to a third of active holders) are. The talk of the small towns in the Wheat Board area is about bizarre cases of ballot receipt. Many retirees and estates of deceased farmers are reported to have received several ballots and were free to return them all. Others who thought they qualified did not receive any ballots. Some returned their ballots not to MNP but to the office of agriminister Ritz with the plea to stand fast on termination of the monopoly.
The string of political rallies organized by the Board wound up last week with an average of about 200 attendees, a small majority or even a minority of them farmers. The Board had invited “the general public” to these events and many left-wing sympathizers with no connection to or stake in the issues obliged. The meetings were ostensibly put on by “the CWB’s farmer-elected directors” but in fact were staged and managed by its propaganda ministry. The Bobsy Twins of Incompetence, federal Liberal politicians Goodale and Rae, attended the event at Oak Bluff on Winnipeg’s western outskirts.
The Board said its customers are starting to have concerns about quality, supply and many unanswered questions, but the method of selling Canadian grain has nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of prairie grain or its availability to the market. No buyer could be possibly be stupid enough to suppose that there will not be other channels by which to obtain Canadian grain.
An interesting rumor was making the rounds last week, to the extent that unsupported stories can be interesting. It held that Canadian Wheat Board chairman Oberg and the Seven Dwarfs (elected anti-dual-market directors) will see the producer ‘vote’ through, which will purport to show that a big majority of those returning their ‘ballots’ favor the present arrangements, the outcome being pre-ordained by the compilation of the voters’ list and the design of the question. Then they will give the government an ultimatum, something to the zoony effect that it must respect the will of farmers. The government will ignore it. The directors will then call a big press conference for a time selected for maximum political effect (as when the reform bill is presented, or perhaps as early as the resumption of parliament in mid-September) at which Oberg and his cohort will announce their resignations en masse. Martyrs to the noble and ancient cause of the centrally-planned Stasi-style western grain marketing system, they will claim they have been run over by the anti-democratic Harper juggernaut.
If so, they will thereby remove the biggest obstacle to the orderly reform, modernization and privatization of wheat and barley marketing. Ritz should and will be delighted.
Things are surely getting down to the wire. An informal working group appointed by the minister in July to advise the government on the changeover from the Board monopoly system has been given until Sept. 15 to produce a report, with legislation to amend or repeal the Canadian Wheat Board Act to appear in October. There are no Wheat Board representatives on the committee because the anti-government directors refused to allow Board CEO White to co-chair it, with deputy agriculture minister John Knubley. Members include Richard Phillips, executive director of the Grain Growers of Canada who represents grower organizations; Earl Geddes of the Canadian International Grains Institute; Canadian Grain Commission commissioner Murdoch MacKay; Paul Earl of the University of Manitoba; Jim Everson of the Canola Council of Canada; Gordon Bacon, CEO of Pulse Canada; and Howard Migie, a retired deputy minister.
The government has also called tenders for an audit of the Wheat Board’s books to find out what the real exposure is to unfunded liabilities such a severance and pension costs. The value for the auditing contract is estimated at $500,000 to $1 million. Bids are being considered only from pre-qualified suppliers and an early completion date is required.
This suggests, but does not necessarily mean, that closing down the whole Wheat Board is an option. The government should surely already know roughly what the accumulated liability is. On no account whatever should it prevent the Board from trying to continue on a voluntary basis. If the Board tries and does not succeed, it is an entirely different matter than being arbitrarily shut down.
Of course the government will not hang farmers out to dry, but most or all of any wind-up cost represents deferred expenses for which the Board did not make proper provision. It paid all the money it could to farmers instead, who over the years received higher returns for their grain than if the responsible thing had been done. Prices were maximized in order to maintain the Board’s popularity and acceptability. To put it another way, had responsible provision been made for future liabilities, returns would have been even less competitive with what growers in the U.S. and other countries received over many years.
‘Ballots’ in the Wheat Board’s alleged plebiscite on the single desk monopoly were to be postmarked by Aug. 24, the Board reminded recipients last week. The accounting firm of MNP which is running the poll will count the votes on Sept. 8 and 9 and results will be released Sept. 9.
The Board apparently will not, as is done in elections of farmer-directors, allow anyone to review the list, which is already shown to be manipulated. There are about 50,800 current Wheat Board delivery permit book holders. It becomes a puzzle as to who the 17,000 or so others on the 68,000-name list (equal to a third of active holders) are. The talk of the small towns in the Wheat Board area is about bizarre cases of ballot receipt. Many retirees and estates of deceased farmers are reported to have received several ballots and were free to return them all. Others who thought they qualified did not receive any ballots. Some returned their ballots not to MNP but to the office of agriminister Ritz with the plea to stand fast on termination of the monopoly.
The string of political rallies organized by the Board wound up last week with an average of about 200 attendees, a small majority or even a minority of them farmers. The Board had invited “the general public” to these events and many left-wing sympathizers with no connection to or stake in the issues obliged. The meetings were ostensibly put on by “the CWB’s farmer-elected directors” but in fact were staged and managed by its propaganda ministry. The Bobsy Twins of Incompetence, federal Liberal politicians Goodale and Rae, attended the event at Oak Bluff on Winnipeg’s western outskirts.
The Board said its customers are starting to have concerns about quality, supply and many unanswered questions, but the method of selling Canadian grain has nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of prairie grain or its availability to the market. No buyer could be possibly be stupid enough to suppose that there will not be other channels by which to obtain Canadian grain.
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