Canada: Ministry of Agriculture to ignore results of CWB’s plebiscite

Following a speech to the Grain Growers of Canada in Winnipeg on June, 29, federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said he will ignore the results of a Canadian Wheat Board plebiscite on single desk marketing, Producer.com reports.

When asked how much value he will place on the results of the board's plebiscite, which was announced earlier this week, Ritz paused before he offered a short but not so sweet response: "Little to none."

He said asking farmers to vote on the future of the board is essentially a way for board supporters to delay the inevitable.

"It's a stall tactic, at best…. We have the rights and responsibilities as a government to move forward."

Rick Istead, Alberta Winter Wheat Producers Commission executive director, who was in Winnipeg for the Grain Growers summer meeting, said he's encouraged by Ritz's determination to eliminate the board's monopoly and agreed that a plebiscite is unnecessary.

"We have a couple of earlier indicators: the 2007 barley plebiscite … as well as the May 2 election."

In his speech at the Grain Growers meeting, Ritz said farmers and Canada's grain industry would benefit from the federal government's plan to remove the board's monopoly on wheat, durum and barley.

However, most of his speech focused on what he called the myths regarding the CWB's monopoly and negative impacts associated with the loss of the single desk.

Myth number one, he said, is the idea that western Canadian farmers created the board to protect their interests.

"World War II was raging and Canada was committed to supplying cheap wheat to Great Britain," he said. "It was done with the aim of aiding the war effort, by keeping prices low, not with any pretence that it would be good for western Canadian farmers."

As for the potential impact on the Port of Churchill, Ritz rejected the myth that the port will die unless the CWB continues to ship grain through Hudson Bay.

"Our government understands the importance of the Port of Churchill as a valuable asset," he said.

"I don't think the viability of the Port of Churchill is just based on grain, anyway. I think we have to look at diversification. As we develop more and more of the north … there is a need for a key place like Churchill."

01 July, 2011