Saskatchewan farmers at the crossroads: an open letter to Brad Wall and Dwayne Lingenfelter
Over a period of a century, Saskatchewan producers have developed a farmer-oriented marketing and transportation system second to none. We accomplished this by working together as farmers to achieve shared goals. We have always confronted forces, both within and outside our province, who sought to overturn our rich history of cooperation. Producers have faced head-on the grain companies, railways, financial institutions, unstable grain and livestock markets, and the vagaries of our northern climate. And always, the majority has upheld the need for us all to work together for the common good through the Canadian Wheat Board, the Canada Grain Act, as well as our cooperatives, crown corporations, and the public health care system we pioneered.
Today, however, farmers are at an historic crossroads. With the tabling in Parliament of Bill C-18, The Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act, farmers’ partnership with our national government is gone. It has been shattered by a federal government - elected by 40% of voters - which is refusing to listen to farmers in the name of its blind commitment to the free market. Trampling on our democratic rights, they are rushing to strip farmers of money and power, and to hand it over to big business.
With the tabling of Bill C-18, it’s clear that the present federal government is no longer concerned with the stability or wellbeing of our rural communities. By rejecting their legislated obligation to hold a plebiscite to determine the wishes of producers prior to changing the CWB’s marketing mandate, the federal government has turned its back on what the majority of farmers want. Instead of an open and equal farm community, this government seeks to expropriate farmer wealth and power to the benefit of American and European multinationals. It has embraced free market fundamentalism, and crushed Canadian democracy in its reckless push to enforce an ideology that citizens, institutions and governments around the world are now rejecting.
Saskatchewan farmers want to know:
· Who will maintain producer car loading and shortline railway viability, into which our provincial government has invested millions of dollars?
· What will replace the CWB’s system which assures equality of delivery for all farmers?
· Who will assume responsibility for the equitable distribution of rail cars and orderly movement of grain to port?
· Who will make up the farm income lost to grain company profits if the CWB single desk is disbanded?
· Who will defend farmers against proposed gutting of the Canada Grain Act and Canadian Grain Commission?
· Who will stand for up for farmers’ interests when the Rail Freight Revenue Cap is opened for change?
Now is the time for a clear and unequivocal statement on the future of Saskatchewan grain farming by our provincial parties. Where will our next provincial government stand on the issue of farmer power in the international market place, and the threat of corporate control by transnational corporations, if the CWB is lost?
As Saskatchewan’s farmer-elected directors of the Canadian Wheat Board, we represent tens of thousands of grain farmers in seven of the CWB’s ten Prairie electoral districts. We have the right to know, in this provincial election year, which of our parties and MLAs will stand up for the interests of Saskatchewan grain farmers. We call for a public debate by the party leaders on the future of our industry. We need to know if Saskatchewan agriculture is now 100% for sale to speculative investors.
We want to hear in a public and democratic forum if our next provincial government will stand up for its citizens or for foreign interests? Bill C-18 recklessly forces an ideology of “government-by-corporation” onto producers. It ruthlessly undermines farmers - as an economic sector, as individuals, and as citizens - in what should be a democratic society. Will Saskatchewan’s next provincial government support or reject this financial and anti-democratic assault on the legitimate interests of Saskatchewan farmers?
Saskatchewan’s political leaders owe it to previous and future generations of farmers to address these questions. An international corporate elite continues to prosper while the majority of citizens are threatened by a long term economic crisis induced by that same elite. Now is the time to reclaim power for farmers, for the people of Saskatchewan, and to defend our rich cooperative and economic heritage.
“He who does not know history is destined to remain a child.”
On behalf of the farmers of Saskatchewan (CWB Districts 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8) we therefore demand a public debate to determine whether our future government will be with us or against us.
District 3: Stewart Wells, Swift Current, Sask.
District 4: Bill Woods, Eston, Sask.
District 5: Kyle Korneychuk, Pelly, Sask.
District 6: Cam Goff, Hanley, Sask.
District 8: Rod Flaman, Edenwold, Sask.
Over a period of a century, Saskatchewan producers have developed a farmer-oriented marketing and transportation system second to none. We accomplished this by working together as farmers to achieve shared goals. We have always confronted forces, both within and outside our province, who sought to overturn our rich history of cooperation. Producers have faced head-on the grain companies, railways, financial institutions, unstable grain and livestock markets, and the vagaries of our northern climate. And always, the majority has upheld the need for us all to work together for the common good through the Canadian Wheat Board, the Canada Grain Act, as well as our cooperatives, crown corporations, and the public health care system we pioneered.
Today, however, farmers are at an historic crossroads. With the tabling in Parliament of Bill C-18, The Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act, farmers’ partnership with our national government is gone. It has been shattered by a federal government - elected by 40% of voters - which is refusing to listen to farmers in the name of its blind commitment to the free market. Trampling on our democratic rights, they are rushing to strip farmers of money and power, and to hand it over to big business.
With the tabling of Bill C-18, it’s clear that the present federal government is no longer concerned with the stability or wellbeing of our rural communities. By rejecting their legislated obligation to hold a plebiscite to determine the wishes of producers prior to changing the CWB’s marketing mandate, the federal government has turned its back on what the majority of farmers want. Instead of an open and equal farm community, this government seeks to expropriate farmer wealth and power to the benefit of American and European multinationals. It has embraced free market fundamentalism, and crushed Canadian democracy in its reckless push to enforce an ideology that citizens, institutions and governments around the world are now rejecting.
Saskatchewan farmers want to know:
· Who will maintain producer car loading and shortline railway viability, into which our provincial government has invested millions of dollars?
· What will replace the CWB’s system which assures equality of delivery for all farmers?
· Who will assume responsibility for the equitable distribution of rail cars and orderly movement of grain to port?
· Who will make up the farm income lost to grain company profits if the CWB single desk is disbanded?
· Who will defend farmers against proposed gutting of the Canada Grain Act and Canadian Grain Commission?
· Who will stand for up for farmers’ interests when the Rail Freight Revenue Cap is opened for change?
Now is the time for a clear and unequivocal statement on the future of Saskatchewan grain farming by our provincial parties. Where will our next provincial government stand on the issue of farmer power in the international market place, and the threat of corporate control by transnational corporations, if the CWB is lost?
As Saskatchewan’s farmer-elected directors of the Canadian Wheat Board, we represent tens of thousands of grain farmers in seven of the CWB’s ten Prairie electoral districts. We have the right to know, in this provincial election year, which of our parties and MLAs will stand up for the interests of Saskatchewan grain farmers. We call for a public debate by the party leaders on the future of our industry. We need to know if Saskatchewan agriculture is now 100% for sale to speculative investors.
We want to hear in a public and democratic forum if our next provincial government will stand up for its citizens or for foreign interests? Bill C-18 recklessly forces an ideology of “government-by-corporation” onto producers. It ruthlessly undermines farmers - as an economic sector, as individuals, and as citizens - in what should be a democratic society. Will Saskatchewan’s next provincial government support or reject this financial and anti-democratic assault on the legitimate interests of Saskatchewan farmers?
Saskatchewan’s political leaders owe it to previous and future generations of farmers to address these questions. An international corporate elite continues to prosper while the majority of citizens are threatened by a long term economic crisis induced by that same elite. Now is the time to reclaim power for farmers, for the people of Saskatchewan, and to defend our rich cooperative and economic heritage.
“He who does not know history is destined to remain a child.”
On behalf of the farmers of Saskatchewan (CWB Districts 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8) we therefore demand a public debate to determine whether our future government will be with us or against us.
District 3: Stewart Wells, Swift Current, Sask.
District 4: Bill Woods, Eston, Sask.
District 5: Kyle Korneychuk, Pelly, Sask.
District 6: Cam Goff, Hanley, Sask.
District 8: Rod Flaman, Edenwold, Sask.
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