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Thursday, August 03, 2006 

Harper! Hands Off the Canadian Wheat Board!!

Demonstrating once again that they are driven by right wing ideology, the Harper government is preparing to kill the Canadian Wheat Board. Prairie farmers have benefited from the single desk marketing of the CWB for decades. It is farmers who should decide the fate of the Board, not the Federal Tories.

The Harper government is using crafty language to outline their position. They will tell you that they do not want to kill the CWB, they merely want to give farmers more ‘choice’ by adopting a dual marketing system. They are hoping that for the Canadian public, a ‘dual’ system, where farmers can opt in or out of the Board, will sound reasonable. The only problem is that since the CWB itself does not have facilities to move, hold and store grain, the large multinationals will be the sole buyers and sellers of grain commodities produced in the West.

The Canadian Wheat Board sells grain to more than 70 countries and returns all sales revenue, minus the cost of marketing, to Prairie producers.

Recent studies on the issue of a dual market system, especially one recently
commissioned by the Government of Alberta, consistently indicate that the Canadian Wheat Board would not survive in a dual marketing situation.

Farmers want to vote on the future of the Board. Stephen Harper’s response has been to hold private, ‘by invitation only’ meetings to create the impression that they are consulting with producers. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Holding meetings to determine the future of the CWB where only the dual marketing point of view is represented is an insult to both farmers and the democratic process. (I thought, as a Westerner, Harper would at least hold farmers in higher regard). However, it appears the decision has been made and nothing is going to get in the way of the Federal Conservative’s ideology. They want the Canadian Wheat Board to be gone and that is that.

The future of the Canadian Wheat Board must be decided in a vote by all farmers, not just by Stephen Harper.

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You clearly do not understand what the Canadian Wheat Board is all about! Are you saying that it is a way to subsidize Canadian farmers? I suspect that you have no knowledge of this topic/

Well lance, what do your neighbours involved in agriculture around Delisle think - do the majority agree with you? No way! And I remind you that Harper is holding a minority government after only 34% of Canadians voted for his sorry lot. He has NO mandate to be making such large changes to Canada without a majority.
Even your opinion seems to be drive more by ideology than by practical common sense.

If Harper would recognize that Canada is a democracy and not some kind of authoritarian Conservative state, we could let farmers vote and decide.

what do you propose, a referendum to determine the future of the wheat board ?

the wheat board was created to keep the price of grain down during the war effort so farmers couldn't gouge the consumers. it was supposed to be a temporary program just like income tax, and unfortunately we still have both haunting us today.

""He has NO mandate to be making such large changes to Canada without a majority.""

Says who?


If the WCB is such a great idea, why aren't Eastern farmers screaming to get aboard?

'The CWB issue is not about democracy its about basic human rights.'

Lord love a duck...you are kidding, right? CWB is a human right!!!!! A right to MAKE farmers sell thru a government agency. Maybe in a communist country, but not here Bucko.

the CWB is also incredibly secretive, it is easier to get information from CSIS than it is from the CWB. although this is a bit of an exaggeration, ive heard people say it would be easier to get files on the JFK investigation than files from CWB. what is it they are trying to hide i wonder ?

The CWB is not a real farmers friend. Watch this to learn about the CWB :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YLMFbYe7MU

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