I missed seeing the Academy Awards last night.  However, like most people I appreciate great acting skills and technological whiz bang on the screen.

So in the spirit of the Oscars, I would like to nominate Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz for “best supporting actor.”

Ritz’s performance must have turned the stomachs of many in the audience at an Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan meeting on February 26.

Who can possibly forget the common sense observation of APAS president Norm Hall that the billions of dollars farmers have lost because of the marketing crisis had negated “all the increased yields we’ve got in the last twenty years” and Minister Ritz’s “emotional response” that he worked hard?

So for best supporting actor in American hustle the award should go to Minister Ritz.

With farm gate prices now half of what they would have been under the single desk farmer-controlled Wheat Board and huge volumes of grain being carried into the next crop year it should come as no surprise that farmers will not be nominating either Minister Ritz, or his Director Stephen Harper for more awards anytime soon.  What they are responsible for is not funny, it is a tragedy.

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