Dear Charlie,
The headline:
'THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH'
"Canada's controversial CWB grain industry was hit with a public-relations tsunami Wednesday, following a volley of damning international media reports."
REPLACES: " The Canadian Press
MONTREAL - Canada's controversial asbestos industry was hit with a public-relations tsunami Wednesday, following a volley of damning international media reports. "
How soon will the CWB 'designated area' growers be hit with these same reports?
As I watch 'designated area' wheat growers... shun growing winter wheat in 2009 and 2010... with environmental disasters in western Canada from extensive disastrous weather patterns...
It is just SO obvious the CWB is NOT a commercial entity. The Board of directors has built the CWB around a 'monopoly' that is so tenuous... that it can not even be found in the CWB Act they (the CWB)claim as their reason for existence.
It is too clear that winter wheat conserves/preserves our soil, uses excess water preserves water when we are short, protects wildlife, and provides real and attainable long term carbon footprint reductions over spring wheat.
Yet the CWB dedicates itself to CWRS spring wheat sales and production.
Winter wheat prices and lack of comparable protein premiums/variety selections to northern US competitive offers in prices... proves the CWB bias to spring wheat.
All too often... $2/bu or more are missing from winter wheat prices... taken by the CWB pooling system. Everything the CWboard markets... must go through the CWB pool to be sold. Check the annual report, it's true.
Then the 'designated area' grain grower gets what is left over. Sometimes even taxed even more through deductions for the 'Contingency Fund'... that allows the CWB to even distort the global commercial market further. Class spreads... protein premiums... select market premiums... all are determined by CWB regulations directly determined by the CWB pool prices and CWB policy.
NOT by the grower best meeting the needs of his customer. But by the force of the CWB Act.
And the CWB is responsible to decide how much CWRS gets the premium CWB price... and the CWB picks and chooses the sales into 'premium' high quality markets... to force CWRS sales where alternative classes of wheat also could fit customer needs.
Month after month... US prices at Portland... and at the local US elevator... are similar for spring and winter wheat with the same protein milling/level. In Ontario... the same as the US.
In the 'designated area' of Canada... the CWB continues the discounts for winter wheat. The CGC just proposed further discrimination... a Numbere 3 grade for protein under US11.5% px.
I was told yesterday... If a grain shipper cant get together 25 cars of select winter wheat... no select premium. If it isn't really convenient... the CWB throws our high quality winter wheat in the discount bin at the huge discount price. Enforced by the CWB monopoly.
Time after year... parity in winter and spring wheat prices diverges... while the rest of the world... finds better ways to replace CWRS with their own winter wheat.
The rest of the world... moves past the CWB... our wheat prices fall... and we wonder why! It must be those 'evil' multi-nationals (NOT!!!)!
Hence... we have a paradox. Just like QU. and asbestos. Institutions that require CDN government support... to survive. The CWB needs to CWB act to survive. Asbestos... needs the Qu./CDN governments... to survive. Both are environmental monsters... hurting the health and sustainability of those they were created to serve.
TIME For CHANGE!
Background:
"Major BBC investigation batters Canada's controversial asbestos industry
21/07/2010 6:20:00 PM
Andy Blatchford, The Canadian Press
MONTREAL - Canada's controversial asbestos industry was hit with a public-relations tsunami Wednesday, following a volley of damning international media reports.
The British Broadcasting Corporation - which claims a worldwide audience of 241 million - aired an in-depth series on the asbestos trade as part of a joint investigation.
The multimedia reports scrutinize Canada's prominent role in the global asbestos industry, which is blamed for 90,000 deaths annually around the world.
And the timing couldn't be worse for Canada's sector, as one of the country's last-remaining asbestos mines holds out for government support to stay alive.
"In 2009, Canada sent nearly 153,000 tonnes of chrysotile - or white asbestos - abroad," says the BBC series titled "Dangers in the Dust," prepared in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
"More than half went to India; the rest went to Indonesia, Thailand, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates. At home, it is a different story: Canada used only 6,000 tonnes in 2006, the last year for which data is available."
The report says an international marketing campaign has triggered more demand in developing countries for the cheap building material.
Among the groups co-ordinating the successful sales pitch?
The Chrysotile Institute, Canada's federally funded asbestos lobby group, says Britain's public broadcaster.
"The asbestos lobby's influence reaches around the world," writes the BBC.
"Pro-chrysotile groups have spent nearly US$100m since the mid-1980s to support asbestos sales in three countries alone: Canada, India and Brazil."
The far-reaching coverage is sure to draw more attention to Canada's asbestos sector, which has become the target of a mounting, international anti-asbestos campaign.
In recent months, health professionals and anti-asbestos activists from around the world have spoken out against Canadian asbestos exports."
The headline:
'THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH'
"Canada's controversial CWB grain industry was hit with a public-relations tsunami Wednesday, following a volley of damning international media reports."
REPLACES: " The Canadian Press
MONTREAL - Canada's controversial asbestos industry was hit with a public-relations tsunami Wednesday, following a volley of damning international media reports. "
How soon will the CWB 'designated area' growers be hit with these same reports?
As I watch 'designated area' wheat growers... shun growing winter wheat in 2009 and 2010... with environmental disasters in western Canada from extensive disastrous weather patterns...
It is just SO obvious the CWB is NOT a commercial entity. The Board of directors has built the CWB around a 'monopoly' that is so tenuous... that it can not even be found in the CWB Act they (the CWB)claim as their reason for existence.
It is too clear that winter wheat conserves/preserves our soil, uses excess water preserves water when we are short, protects wildlife, and provides real and attainable long term carbon footprint reductions over spring wheat.
Yet the CWB dedicates itself to CWRS spring wheat sales and production.
Winter wheat prices and lack of comparable protein premiums/variety selections to northern US competitive offers in prices... proves the CWB bias to spring wheat.
All too often... $2/bu or more are missing from winter wheat prices... taken by the CWB pooling system. Everything the CWboard markets... must go through the CWB pool to be sold. Check the annual report, it's true.
Then the 'designated area' grain grower gets what is left over. Sometimes even taxed even more through deductions for the 'Contingency Fund'... that allows the CWB to even distort the global commercial market further. Class spreads... protein premiums... select market premiums... all are determined by CWB regulations directly determined by the CWB pool prices and CWB policy.
NOT by the grower best meeting the needs of his customer. But by the force of the CWB Act.
And the CWB is responsible to decide how much CWRS gets the premium CWB price... and the CWB picks and chooses the sales into 'premium' high quality markets... to force CWRS sales where alternative classes of wheat also could fit customer needs.
Month after month... US prices at Portland... and at the local US elevator... are similar for spring and winter wheat with the same protein milling/level. In Ontario... the same as the US.
In the 'designated area' of Canada... the CWB continues the discounts for winter wheat. The CGC just proposed further discrimination... a Numbere 3 grade for protein under US11.5% px.
I was told yesterday... If a grain shipper cant get together 25 cars of select winter wheat... no select premium. If it isn't really convenient... the CWB throws our high quality winter wheat in the discount bin at the huge discount price. Enforced by the CWB monopoly.
Time after year... parity in winter and spring wheat prices diverges... while the rest of the world... finds better ways to replace CWRS with their own winter wheat.
The rest of the world... moves past the CWB... our wheat prices fall... and we wonder why! It must be those 'evil' multi-nationals (NOT!!!)!
Hence... we have a paradox. Just like QU. and asbestos. Institutions that require CDN government support... to survive. The CWB needs to CWB act to survive. Asbestos... needs the Qu./CDN governments... to survive. Both are environmental monsters... hurting the health and sustainability of those they were created to serve.
TIME For CHANGE!
Background:
"Major BBC investigation batters Canada's controversial asbestos industry
21/07/2010 6:20:00 PM
Andy Blatchford, The Canadian Press
MONTREAL - Canada's controversial asbestos industry was hit with a public-relations tsunami Wednesday, following a volley of damning international media reports.
The British Broadcasting Corporation - which claims a worldwide audience of 241 million - aired an in-depth series on the asbestos trade as part of a joint investigation.
The multimedia reports scrutinize Canada's prominent role in the global asbestos industry, which is blamed for 90,000 deaths annually around the world.
And the timing couldn't be worse for Canada's sector, as one of the country's last-remaining asbestos mines holds out for government support to stay alive.
"In 2009, Canada sent nearly 153,000 tonnes of chrysotile - or white asbestos - abroad," says the BBC series titled "Dangers in the Dust," prepared in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
"More than half went to India; the rest went to Indonesia, Thailand, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates. At home, it is a different story: Canada used only 6,000 tonnes in 2006, the last year for which data is available."
The report says an international marketing campaign has triggered more demand in developing countries for the cheap building material.
Among the groups co-ordinating the successful sales pitch?
The Chrysotile Institute, Canada's federally funded asbestos lobby group, says Britain's public broadcaster.
"The asbestos lobby's influence reaches around the world," writes the BBC.
"Pro-chrysotile groups have spent nearly US$100m since the mid-1980s to support asbestos sales in three countries alone: Canada, India and Brazil."
The far-reaching coverage is sure to draw more attention to Canada's asbestos sector, which has become the target of a mounting, international anti-asbestos campaign.
In recent months, health professionals and anti-asbestos activists from around the world have spoken out against Canadian asbestos exports."