49.5% don't care enought to vote

[peaqueen]

A total of 16,018 ballots have been returned for a response rate of 51.5 %

Maybe we get what we deserve.

[peaqueen]

Sorry 1% more than that care
it is 48.5% who do not care.

[AdamSmith]

So if they don't care one way or the other, it shouldn't be that big a deal for Strahl to make an open market the law of the land.

[AdamSmith]

Adam, well said!!!

[wd9]

Actually 1/2 the ballots seems like it should be considered a very good turnout since at least 30% of the ballots go to addresses of people who don't farm or no longer care about it.

[cottonpicken]

Jesus,adam,your a bloody genuis.
Of course the absolute reverse logic would also be true.

[AdamSmith]

Of course!

But I don't think Harper leans that way!

[TOM4CWB]

PeaQueen;

In the vote on Ontario Wheat Marketing Board... for monopoly status to remain 66% or more had to vote in favour of retaining the monopoly.

The Ontario people pulled the vote at the last minute... but the principal remains.

A simple majority doesn't cut it when voting on property and Civil rights... in a free and democratic country.

[wanaka]

If the people who feel the CWB is the answer to an orderly wheat market then why should it not be all wheat in Canada be under the CWB jurisdiction not just us in the west. Then all farmers in Canada would be equal. Is this not the what the CWB is about equalizing farmers more so than the selling of our wheat.

[peaqueen]

Last election we had 32% ballot return.
This time with higher stakes and a paired down voters list we are at last count: 51.5%.

This turn out is lower than the percentages of return in Provincial and Federal elections.

Maybe it is just my thinking but this election had impact on peoples daily bread, should we not have expected a higher rate of return.

Which leads to the questions, does the low turnout reflect:

1/ almost 1/2 of farmers who do not care enough to participate
(obviously not the people I talk to)
or
2/ we have a voters list need to go trough a total review.

If the industry does not have confidence in the voters list, how valid is the process?

And indeed a voters list should define the players. As we know much opposition is generated from the teapot of people who have no vested interest in the economic reality of the debate.

It would be nice to get this right before the barley plebescite

[wedino]

The 20% of growers that produce 80% of grain should have 80% of say in any plebiscite.

[TOM4CWB]

Peaqueen,

The 48.5% not voting is not a comparison to the last election.

If we say that 32,000 ballots were issued... about 15,000 more would have been issued had the 16,000 non-active producers (producers who hadn't delivered in the last 2 crop years) had been included.

Now we are at a comparative base with the last election.

47,000 Ballots... 16,000 returned.

34% return is Very comparible to the last election in 2004.

However the distribution could be quite different... which could surprise many folks when the count is done.

Only one sleep Peaqueen... then we will find out!

[peaqueen]

I agree, with the 20/80 rule.
The voting process is based upon the cooperative principle of business.
However a coop is still an optional form of membership.

One of the descriptions of the CWB is a marketing corporation. Corporate voting is governed by shares structures.

So really how valid is the resulte, when in reality the most earnest supporters of the CWB market the least on the board.

Only in Western Canada... pity...pity.

The CWB is a corperation

[peaqueen]

Oh and Tom thanks for respecting anonymity.

[wilagro]

The 20% of the growers who produce 80% of the grain should have exactly TWENTY percent of the VOTE. What could be more democratic than that?