Canada: Barley monopoly must end

Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed to open the western barley market, "whether the (Canadian) Wheat Board likes it or not", CanWest News Service reported August 7.

Harper was delivering a speech in Lloydminster, Alta., 250 kilometres east of Edmonton. The prime minister's challenge follows the board's court victory against the federal government early last week, when the Federal Court ruled the government cannot change how barley is marketed without parliamentary approval. In March, the government held a non-binding vote of growers that found 62 per cent wanted the CWB's 58-year barley monopoly to end. Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl opened the market, despite calls from Canada's two largest malting companies to delay the change until 2008.

08 August, 2007