RTRS-UPDATE 1-Canadian Wheat Board to survive without monopoly-Ritz
* New Canada government has stronger mandate
* Conservative won't hold farmer vote
(Adds quotes and details)
By Rod Nickel
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, May 3 (Reuters) - The Canadian Wheat Board, the last major agricultural marketing monopoly in the world, can survive the loss of its exclusive hold over the buying and selling of Western Canada's wheat and barley and compete in an open system, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz told Reuters on Tuesday.
Ritz's Conservative Party won a majority government on Monday, giving it for the first time the legislative clout to strip the board's monopoly as it has long intended.
"I was not shy about raising this at every whistle stop that I made in Saskatchewan in eight different (electoral districts), plus my own," Ritz said. "No one threw eggs at me. There's some concern we're going to throw out the baby with the bathwater (but) I told everyone not a chance."
Canada is the world's biggest shipper of spring wheat and durum, mostly through Wheat Board sales.
The Wheat Board does not own crop storage facilities or port terminals, but instead moves grain through privately owned facilities of companies such as Viterra Inc <VT.TO>, Cargill Inc [CARG.UL] and Richardson International Limited.
That system could continue, even if the Wheat Board becomes a competitor instead of a supplier, Ritz said.
Opening up choice for farmers could result in more private investment in developing better grain varieties and possibly in building processing facilities in Western Canada, he said.
"Innovation has been stifled because farmers are saying, I'm not going to spend a lot of money on this crop because I can't pick and choose when I can sell it.'"
Ritz, who is hoping Prime Minister Stephen Harper will reappoint him as agriculture minister, said in an interview that he will not hold a vote by farmers to decide whether the Wheat Board keeps its monopoly, but said the government will consult farmers.
* New Canada government has stronger mandate
* Conservative won't hold farmer vote
(Adds quotes and details)
By Rod Nickel
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, May 3 (Reuters) - The Canadian Wheat Board, the last major agricultural marketing monopoly in the world, can survive the loss of its exclusive hold over the buying and selling of Western Canada's wheat and barley and compete in an open system, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz told Reuters on Tuesday.
Ritz's Conservative Party won a majority government on Monday, giving it for the first time the legislative clout to strip the board's monopoly as it has long intended.
"I was not shy about raising this at every whistle stop that I made in Saskatchewan in eight different (electoral districts), plus my own," Ritz said. "No one threw eggs at me. There's some concern we're going to throw out the baby with the bathwater (but) I told everyone not a chance."
Canada is the world's biggest shipper of spring wheat and durum, mostly through Wheat Board sales.
The Wheat Board does not own crop storage facilities or port terminals, but instead moves grain through privately owned facilities of companies such as Viterra Inc <VT.TO>, Cargill Inc [CARG.UL] and Richardson International Limited.
That system could continue, even if the Wheat Board becomes a competitor instead of a supplier, Ritz said.
Opening up choice for farmers could result in more private investment in developing better grain varieties and possibly in building processing facilities in Western Canada, he said.
"Innovation has been stifled because farmers are saying, I'm not going to spend a lot of money on this crop because I can't pick and choose when I can sell it.'"
Ritz, who is hoping Prime Minister Stephen Harper will reappoint him as agriculture minister, said in an interview that he will not hold a vote by farmers to decide whether the Wheat Board keeps its monopoly, but said the government will consult farmers.
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