Stick to facts

By Bill Woods,
The Starphoenix November 7, 2014

In a recent media interview, Agricultural Minister Gerry Ritz continued his pattern of prevarication in discussing the privatization and sale of the newly created CWB.

He said that if the farmer-elected directors of the former Canadian Wheat Board were honest, they would have admitted their agency had more liabilities than assets. He was falsely insinuating the wheat board was already heavily leveraged when his government turned it into the CWB grain company.

Is Ritz paving the way for a fire sale of the neutered CWB? Could it be that he intends to sell for a pittance but boast the sale as a “marketing miracle?” If Ritz had read the former CWB’s audited financial statement, he would know that when he dismissed the farmer-elected directors, the agency’s assets exceeded liabilities by $300 million. He simply has his facts wrong, again.

It is an insult that this minister has the nerve even to raise the subject of farmers’ honesty.

This is the minister who falsely said at a federal agriculture committee meeting that he was denied attendance at board meetings of the former CWB. Minutes later he was forced to recant and acknowledge receiving numerous requests but had declined them all.

This is the minister who, just days before the federal election, promised farmers a vote on the fate of the wheat board but broke that promise immediately after the election.

His statements show he will say anything to promote the political agenda of his party.