Harper Transfers Wealth and Influence Away from Farmers
Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board News Release
http://friendsofcwb.ca
Harper Transfers Wealth and Influence Away from Farmers
(Swift Current – August 1, 2012) “By destroying the world’s largest marketer of wheat and barley, Stephen Harper has transferred a tremendous amount of wealth and influence away from farmers,” says Stewart Wells, Chair of Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board (FCWB). “Harper and Ritz have effectively erected barriers manned by the private trade between western farmers and our former customers,” added Wells who was a farmer elected Director to the old Canadian Wheat Board and was dismissed by Minister Ritz over the objections of farmers.
“There is no longer any meaningful influence by farmers inside the grain trade. Building on 65 years of expertise, the farmer-controlled CWB created in 1998 was a strong advocate for farmers on all of the questions of the day. Whether it was railway revenue caps, the need for a railway costing review, producer cars, equitable access, Canadian Grain Commission issues, the introduction of genetically modified wheat, or a host of other issues, the farmer-controlled CWB had the resources to be a strong voice for farmers,” continued Wells.
Bill Gehl, Vice-Chair of the FCWB, added that it was the farmer-controlled Wheat Board that respected consumer wishes and opposed the introduction of genetically modified wheat into Canada. “We are already hearing calls from the United States to lower Canadian quality standards to their level and I expect there will soon be another push to introduce genetically modified wheat here as well. We have lost all our market power and influence in the international grain trade, and Harper’s crippled Wheat Board will soon have no credibility with either farmers or our international customers.”
“In its haste to kill the CWB, the Harper government also degraded basic democracy in Canada, first by refusing to let farmers vote on this important issue, and secondly by short-circuiting Parliamentary procedures in the fall of 2011 in order to pass Bill C-18 without proper scrutiny. The only reason that the government refused to let farmers vote is that the government knew the majority of farmers supported the single desk selling advantages of the CWB,” continued Gehl.
Just six months ago the government was telling farmers that the voluntary Board would always be there for them. On July 31, 2012, the Minister of Agriculture was openly talking about selling the new Board outright.
“Degrading democracy, misleading Parliament, and transferring wealth and influence away from farmers add up to a very dark day for Canada and Canadians,” concluded Wells. “Sure, Stephen Harper can hold a celebratory event at Kindersley, but he has to do it under tight security at an event that is not open to the public.”
Friends of the CWB appeal to Supreme Court is bigger than farm policy
(Regina – July 26, 2012) The non-partisan farm group Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board announced it had instructed its legal counsel Anders Bruun, to seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada regarding a Federal Court of Appeal ruling overturning a December 6, 2011 ruling by Federal Justice Campbell. In that ruling Justice Campbell found that the Federal Agriculture Minister had broken the law by introducing legislation ending the single desk selling responsibilities of the Canadian Wheat Board.
“This case is bigger than farm policy and has important implications for all Canadians” noted Stewart Wells, chairperson of the Friends Group “because it raises fundamental questions about whether government is above the law.” In his ruling Justice Campbell quoted Alberta’s Chief Justice Fraser that “The rule of law is not the rule by laws where citizens are bound to comply with the laws but government is not.”
“The law seemed clear and the Minister of Agriculture had reinforced the expectation that any changes to the Wheat Board would be subject to a farmer vote when he assured a March 2010 public meeting in Minnedosa, Manitoba that a vote would be held before any changes were made.” noted Bill Gehl, a Board member with the Friends of the CWB and chairperson of the non-partisan Canadian Wheat Board Alliance, a group of farmers who supported single desk candidates in elections for Wheat Board Directorships.
Gehl concluded by noting “the legislation in question is especially pernicious when you consider that in every farmer-election for Wheat Board Directorships, 80% of those elected favoured retaining the single desk selling authority of our Board. So this new legislation not only appears to be a violation of the rule of law which needs to be addressed but it is a clear affront to the democratically expressed wishes of farmers.”
Former CWB Directors Seek Leave To Appear Before Supreme Court Of Canada
Forestburg, Alta.: The eight former farmer-elected Directors of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) have announced they will seek leave to appear before the Supreme Court of Canada.
Following the introduction in Parliament by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food of Bill C-18, which removes the CWB’s exclusive “Single Desk” marketing authority over wheat and barley grown in western Canada, the Federal Court of Canada declared that the Minister failed to comply with his statutory duty under the Canadian Wheat Board Act to hold a farmer vote prior to introducing the Bill in Parliament. The Minister ignored the declaration and appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal, which overturned the Federal Court’s decision. The former farmer-elected directors intend to file an application seeking leave to appeal the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.
“We believe that this case raises issues that are important to all Canadians and is worthy of careful consideration by the Supreme Court of Canada”, said Allen Oberg, farmer and former Chair of the CWB.
In 1998 Parliament passed a law (Section 47.1 of the CWB Act) which crystallized the previous practice, used several times over the years, of letting farmers vote on changes to the marketing mandate of the Canadian Wheat Board. But in 2011 the Minister of Agriculture deliberately ignored Section 47.1, effectively stripping farmers of their democratic right to vote regarding a substantial degradation of the CWB’s marketing abilities.
The changes made by the government in December of 2011 mean that farmers will be taking home a smaller share of the rising world prices.
“A plebiscite of the affected farmers in the summer of 2011 proved that the farmers were not in agreement with the destructive actions of the government, and it is on the behalf of those farmers and other Canadians that believe in honesty, fair play and the rule of law that we are making this application to the Supreme Court of Canada,” concluded Oberg.
August 1, 2012 Marks a Year of Infamy in Agricultural Policy With the Destruction of the CWB Single Desk
SASKATOON, SK—Today, Bill Gehl, Chair of the Canadian Wheat Board Alliance, and Terry Boehm, President of the National Farmers Union, are in Saskatoon to speak to the media about a year of infamy in Canadian agricultural policy and for Canadian democracy.
“Since the Harper government took office with a majority government in May of 2011, we have seen unprecedented attacks on farmers and democratic process with the destruction of the CWB as the goal,” said Terry Boehm, NFU President. “In spite of knowing full well that the majority of farmers wanted and understood the advantages that single-desk selling brings them and ultimately to the whole economy, Gerry Ritz and Stephen Harper rammed through Bill C-18, destroying the single-desk CWB this August 1st,” stated Bill Gehl. “All farmers expected to be able to vote on this issue, and Ritz and Harper denied them this right stated in Section 47.1 of the old CWB Act,” he added.
“Farmers, as well as all Canadians, have seen Gerry Ritz and Stephen Harper use every tactic in the book to ram through Bill C-18 including using closure, not allowing any amendments, and not allowing the Bill to go to the Agriculture Committee but creating a special Legislative Committee to rubber-stamp this Bill, which is one of the most fundamental changes to agricultural policy in three generations. It is bad public policy, bad economic policy, and offensive to how Canadians believe democratic process should be conducted,” added Boehm. “Farmers have seen before what happens when the single desk is gone – right after the First World War and with the removal of oats several years ago, and prices and returns always drop except in periods of extreme shortages,” he added.
“August 1, 2012 will be a sad day for farmers and one of jubilation for multinational grain companies, and we can thank Gerry Ritz for that,” declared Gehl. “Farmers know that democracy and their economic well-being are in peril with this government but they also know that Harper will not be in power forever and we will fight in the courts and start rebuilding another day,” stated Boehm. “Meanwhile, the year full of dirty tricks will be remembered as a betrayal and sellout of western farmers,” concluded Boehm.
Farmers and Rail workers both victimized by loss of single desk CWB
(Regina, May 24, 2012) Bill Gehl a durum and wheat farmer near Regina and the chairperson of the western farm group The Canadian Wheat Board Alliance says both farmers and rail workers are being victimized by the loss of the farmer controlled Canadian Wheat Board.
Gehl observed: “our Canadian system was not perfect, but it did represent a balance of interests between farmers represented by a powerful farmer controlled single desk Wheat Board and the largely foreign owners of the two railways. However that balance has now been removed and the field is tilted in favour of foreign shareholders. This is especially galling because the railways have just received a revenue cap increase of 9.5% under the current system.”
During the debate about killing the CWB some analysts warned freight rates could increase between 25 and 50% once the revenue caps are removed because the farmer controlled CWB was the single most powerful supporter of the rail revenue cap system. Without the single desk CWB, freight rates will move closer to American levels. “The first sign of this was the recent effective takeover of CP Rail by New York based Pershing Square Capital Management based on their expectation of increasing revenue from the company,” explained Gehl.
“Why should farmers and workers have to take less to allow foreign owned companies to take more money out of Canada?” asked Gehl who called on the Minister of Labour to chose the side of Canadians, rather than foreign controlled management.
Pasta plant halt demonstrates fallacy of killing Wheat Board
(Regina, May 14, 2012) Last week’s announcement by Alliance Grain Traders delaying a Regina pasta plant comes as no surprise said Bill Gehl, Chairperson of the Canadian Wheat Board Alliance.
Last fall the pasta plant was announced with much fanfare and the presence of Prime Minister Harper and his Agriculture Minister who contended it was evidence their legislation ending the single desk Wheat Board had stimulated value adding.
“Obviously the management of Alliance Grain Traders has now done its due diligence and discovered what grain farmers have known for decades – any kind of enterprise in the west faces brutal transportation economics simply because we are so far from any significant markets,” Gehl said.
“They may have even discovered that with the loss of the Wheat Board’s single desk, small processors face an even bigger challenge. Our Wheat Board had a policy of treating all processors equally so large processors could not obtain volume discounts from farmers and push out smaller operations,” explained Gehl, “and now that fairness will end with the single desk.”
“Many are starting to regret listening to ideologically driven politicians like Ritz and Harper. Last October a major Canadian company, Legumex Walker Inc. announced its new $110 million US canola crushing plant is to be located in Washington State to be closer to markets. At the time, we pointed out the Wheat Board has nothing to do with canola, so this ought to have been a red flag to Alliance Grain Traders’ management and those who believed our Wheat Board inhibited value adding on the prairies. However neither the Prime Minister or the Agriculture Minister listened and now Alliance Grain Traders has learned the PM has no magic wand that can change the fact we produce grain behind a wall of mountain ranges and huge land distances to ocean ports.
“For small grain processors like Alliance Grain Traders to survive they need the fairness our single desk Wheat Board brought to the market place. Without it both farmers and processors lose” Gehl concluded.
Wheat Board Alliance condemns continued vandalism at CWB
(Regina, May 10, 2012) The news that 70% of CWB staff will be fired by this summer and the iconic CWB building in Winnipeg may be sold represents more illegal vandalism of a farmer owned institution, observed Bill Gehl, chairperson of the Canadian Wheat Board Alliance.
“It is unusual to see any elected official defy a Federal Court ruling to implement legislation as Minister Ritz has done with the Wheat Board,” Gehl said, “but it is even more unusual for appointed Directors to place themselves at such great personal risk to carry out what the Courts may well determine are illegal acts which violate their fiduciary duties not only to the organization, but to its rightful owners, the farmers of western Canada.”
“We are already hearing expressions of concern from our international customers and this gutting of CWB staff brings into question our ability to effectively feed the world with the same guaranteed quality of grain. This has implications for global food security and more than just western farmers will want to know who is responsible. The first place many will look is to Minister Ritz’s appointees who as directors must bear responsibility for their actions. They would be well advised to consider the consequences of another Court ruling favourable to western farmers” Gehl concluded.
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Former Harper Ag Minister Strahl blows smoke about railways
(Regina, April 19, 2012) In a Canadian Press story former Conservative Agriculture and Transportation Minister Chuck Strahl is obviously trying to distance himself from the ongoing disaster happening to prairie agriculture following the demise of the single-desk Canadian Wheat Board – a process he played a key role in starting.
His warning to Canadian Pacific Railway shareholder Pershing Square Capital Management that focusing on profits will hurt shippers is simply disingenuous. It is the rules and conditions Mr. Strahl helped to put in place that will allow this group to use its market power to take more money from farmers.
When Mr. Strahl was Minster of Agriculture and Transportation he only listened to calls from astro-turf farm groups like the Western Barley Growers Association with a membership of less than 130 farmers, to dismantle the single-desk of the Canadian Wheat Board. Real farm groups and the farmer controlled Wheat Board itself warned him that one of the negative consequences would be railways taking advantage of farmers’ loss of power to take more profits from farmers.
Strahl should have known that only the Wheat Board had the independence to challenge the railways. He certainly could not have missed the fact the only real improvement in railway service happened after the Wheat Board successfully sued both foreign-owned railways for poor service and took tens of millions of dollars in penalties from them.
He should also have known that grain handling companies, no matter how large are captive to the two railways and have seldom, if ever, launched level of service complaints with the Canadian Transportation Agency (Commission). Nor have the grain handling companies taken the railways to court as the farmer controlled CWB did. Rather than fight with the railways they simply pass extra costs onto farmers.
In the November 21/11 Macleans magazine there is a business section article where Pershing Square Capital Management indicated it expected freight rates on the prairies to increase anywhere between 25 and 50%. This will cripple most export oriented farmers. With the single-desk Wheat Board gone, knowledgeable people, like Mr. Strahl, are attempting to distance themselves from the disaster for grain producers unfolding on the prairies.
Trashing Cereal Research Center puts GM wheat on the table
(Regina, April 17, 2012) The Canadian Wheat Board Alliance condemns last week’s deceitful announcement of a small amount of money to enhance the growing chambers at the Morden, Manitoba Research Lab. “This is an attempt by Agriculture Minister Ritz to divert attention from the fact he is effectively dismantling the Cereal Research Center in Winnipeg by firing up to a third of its scientific personnel and eroding its mandate,” said Bill Gehl, Chairperson of the Alliance.
Gehl observed, “these are the first steps towards privatizing plant breeding, and ending the historic partnership between farmers, scientists, and the Federal government to develop grain varieties in the public interest, and local MP Candice Hoeppner has obviously failed to understand the implications of this move. This leaves varietal development in the hands of private corporations whose primary interest is selling genetically modified and patented seed which forces farmers to not only purchase seed every year, but also the proprietary chemicals for use on that seed.”
Gehl went on to explain “we have already seen this model fail in canola where organic farmers and farmers who do not want to grow GM canola are forced out of production. Moving this model to cereal grains expands this conflict of interest and will cost farmers millions of extra dollars each year. It also means urban consumers will no longer have a choice about eating genetically modified wheat and other grains, since the current partnership between farmers, plant breeders, and the Federal Government for developing varieties in the public interest will be diminished by Minister Ritz’s actions.”
Many of the staff being fired are experts in plant genetics, plant diseases, including fusarium, and state of the art genetic tracking of plant enzyme systems. These people and their support teams are the future of conventional and genetic based plant breeding for western Canada. Their expertise has been developed with financial support from farmers and the people of Canada, and their expertise and experience will be lost to Canadians as they are scooped up by foreign owned chemical and seed companies.
All food and medicinal plants have been treated by farmers over the last 10,000 or so years as “open source” software with the benefits freely shared. In fact it was Canada’s Dominion Cerealist, Charles Saunders, who developed the basic wheat variety which made wheat production in North America viable. This has been a tradition since Canada was settled.
Gehl concluded “this is another example of Ottawa seizing a public resource and giving it to private industry.”
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Farmers support appeal of Manitoba Court ruling on Wheat Board
(Regina, April 4, 2012) “Our membership strongly supports our elected CWB Director’s in their appeal of a ruling by Justice Perlmutter of Manitoba which ignored the rights of farmers to have a fair vote on the future of our single desk Wheat Board” said Bill Gehl, chairperson of the Canadian Wheat Board Alliance, a non-partisan group which supports orderly marketing.
Gehl went on to remark “In our view, Judge Perlmutter’s decision did not give enough weight to the well accepted understanding in the farm community, encouraged by Minister Ritz, that we would have a fair vote on the issue.”
“Not only did Justice Perlmutter come to a conclusion most farmers were not happy with, given the critical nature of the issue, he took an inordinate amount of time to do so. Justice delayed can be justice denied. We are fortunate this is still a country where people have a right to due process of law and time will tell if the appeal of this decision or one of the other ongoing legal challenges will overturn Ottawa’s heavy-handed wrecking of our single desk Canadian Wheat Board.”
Gehl concluded by saying “this is a story that is not over yet and we applaud the integrity and courage of our elected CWB Directors for standing up for democratic rights too many Canadians take for granted.”
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