No 79: CWB Alliance has it dead wrong
Many of you know by now that the Canadian
Wheat Board Alliance has produced and released
a new YouTube video about the CWB plebiscite. Â
It's a very well done, professional music video
with the lyrics of the song written just for the
CWB's survey / plebiscite-wannabe. Â And it's
those lyrics with which I have an issue.
The song is about the plebiscite being farmers'
last chance to have their say. Â For the Alliance
and what they stand for, this is a not at all
unexpected. Â
But it refers to a "tide of evil that is sweeping
'cross our land". Â It calls those in Ottawa "bandits"
and it calls "strangers that want to mess" with the
CWB, "thievin' bastards that can "go to hell".
"A tide of evil"? Â Really?!
Bandits and bastards?! Â You cannot be serious.
"Go to hell"?! Â It's pretty hard to respect
someone who shows so little respect for others
they don't even know - just based on a difference
of opinion.
And here's the difference of opinion:
The Alliance believes in the single desk but
doesn't think they need to rely on real facts to
support their view. Â They are so blinded by their
passion for the idea of single desk market power
that they refuse to acknowledge facts that refute
their position; instead, like the NFU, to support
their position, they use unsubstantiated numbers
like $1.5 billion in annual benefit from the CWB,
based on flawed analysis. I've seen the detail and
it is fraught with errors and misconceptions.
My position - as a "thievin' bastard" - is that
sound decisions should be based on facts, not
passion. Â If there was true value in the single
desk, it would show up in real data, but it doesn't. Â
And those of us in the marketing freedom camp
believe that this is fundamentally a personal
property issue; farmers should not have their
business decisions made by other farmers.
To give an idea of how wide this chasm between
views is, consider the time I told a CWB
supporter the fact that the CWB's reported
marketing costs are higher than the premiums
they report (for a net cost). Â His response; "I don't
believe you." Â I give facts provided by the CWB
itself and he doesn't believe it, I can only assume
because it doesn't support what he wants
desperately to be true.
Back to the video; Â I believe in artistic license as
much as anyone but just like I tell my kids, if you
can find a way to make a point powerfully without
being disrespectful, you gain more credibility. Â I'm
sure they really don't care what I think, but from
my perspective, with that video, the Alliance just
lost a whole dose of credibility.
And ironically, this video came out on the heels
of Allen Oberg's recent blog where he says the
debate is getting strident and we should "keep
the lines of communication open" and "keep it
real and keep it civil."
Oberg has it right. Â The Alliance has it dead
wrong.
Many of you know by now that the Canadian
Wheat Board Alliance has produced and released
a new YouTube video about the CWB plebiscite. Â
It's a very well done, professional music video
with the lyrics of the song written just for the
CWB's survey / plebiscite-wannabe. Â And it's
those lyrics with which I have an issue.
The song is about the plebiscite being farmers'
last chance to have their say. Â For the Alliance
and what they stand for, this is a not at all
unexpected. Â
But it refers to a "tide of evil that is sweeping
'cross our land". Â It calls those in Ottawa "bandits"
and it calls "strangers that want to mess" with the
CWB, "thievin' bastards that can "go to hell".
"A tide of evil"? Â Really?!
Bandits and bastards?! Â You cannot be serious.
"Go to hell"?! Â It's pretty hard to respect
someone who shows so little respect for others
they don't even know - just based on a difference
of opinion.
And here's the difference of opinion:
The Alliance believes in the single desk but
doesn't think they need to rely on real facts to
support their view. Â They are so blinded by their
passion for the idea of single desk market power
that they refuse to acknowledge facts that refute
their position; instead, like the NFU, to support
their position, they use unsubstantiated numbers
like $1.5 billion in annual benefit from the CWB,
based on flawed analysis. I've seen the detail and
it is fraught with errors and misconceptions.
My position - as a "thievin' bastard" - is that
sound decisions should be based on facts, not
passion. Â If there was true value in the single
desk, it would show up in real data, but it doesn't. Â
And those of us in the marketing freedom camp
believe that this is fundamentally a personal
property issue; farmers should not have their
business decisions made by other farmers.
To give an idea of how wide this chasm between
views is, consider the time I told a CWB
supporter the fact that the CWB's reported
marketing costs are higher than the premiums
they report (for a net cost). Â His response; "I don't
believe you." Â I give facts provided by the CWB
itself and he doesn't believe it, I can only assume
because it doesn't support what he wants
desperately to be true.
Back to the video; Â I believe in artistic license as
much as anyone but just like I tell my kids, if you
can find a way to make a point powerfully without
being disrespectful, you gain more credibility. Â I'm
sure they really don't care what I think, but from
my perspective, with that video, the Alliance just
lost a whole dose of credibility.
And ironically, this video came out on the heels
of Allen Oberg's recent blog where he says the
debate is getting strident and we should "keep
the lines of communication open" and "keep it
real and keep it civil."
Oberg has it right. Â The Alliance has it dead
wrong.
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