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AGRIWEEK "If you ask me"B A C K G R O U N D E R / Morris W. Dorosh

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    AGRIWEEK "If you ask me"B A C K G R O U N D E R / Morris W. Dorosh

    "A disproportionate amount of this space has been devoted over the years to the Canadian Wheat Board controversy starting long before it was much of a controversy. AGRIWEEK has supported a free market for over 30 years and a dual market for at least 20 years. It railed against the obscene Goodale amendments which imparted an unprecedented and possibly illegal status on the Board as immune to government supervision but enjoying unlimited government finan-cial support. We applauded the heroic but until now futile efforts of free-market-minded western farmers to get out from under the Liberal-intensified monopoly. It urged the Conservative government to take bigger chances than it was prepared to take to erase this odious monopoly. It is the case that the monopoly could have been removed while the Conservative government was in a minority. The opposition, for all its current pants-wetting, would never have precipitated an election over the Wheat Board issue.
    Every action of every majority government is arbitrary because it does not require compliance of the opposition. The complaints that the Harper government is a ‘steamroller’ are ridiculous. If debate had been allowed to continue for five years the outcome would not have been different. Cutting off debate was especially advisable because the opposition did not and does not know what it is talking about. When you have NDPQ members pontificating about western grain marketing it is obligatory to pull the plug.
    Now that victory is at hand it is not very sweet. The abuse of fundamental civil, commercial and property rights that was caused by the Wheat Board system is a blot on this country, comparable to the forced isolation of Japanese dur-ing the Second World War and the placing of recent immigrants from Austria-Hungary into prison camps during the First War. In a time when legal protections and societal considerations of other personal rights, especially homosexual and various other small-minority rights, have reached such obscene extremes, it is appalling that there is still anyone who cannot make the connection to the Wheat Board monopoly.
    The part of the Wheat Board controversy that has never been resolved is the notion that if the Board system benefits producers, the removal of individual and property rights is justified. The Goodale formula for a farmer-elected board of directors was based on the naïve and mentally-challenged idea that farmer “control” would satisfy most or all farm-ers, including those ideologically persuaded that they should be able to sell their own grain. The monopoly Wheat Board system never produced superior returns because it was intrinsically unable to do so, but even if it had it would still be totally indefensible on personal liberty grounds.
    There is only one parallel to the Wheat Board system in any jurisdiction, and it is represented by the provisions for the takeover and management by civil servants of the estates of the mentally incompetent. All the wheat and barley growers of western Canada were in effect declared incapable of managing their affairs, requiring that their independ-ence be removed and authority over their property be given over to a central, legally-backed authority. The Wheat Board monopoly created a trustee system over wheat and barley assets. Goodale, the pompous elitist, had to have an unimaginable contempt for the intelligence and competence of western farmers as a class. The average farm in Cana-da has assets of $1.5 million. But for his handsome MP salary and pension, Goodale had no chance to be a millionaire. The average farmer is financially more successful than Goodale.
    The Goodale version of the Wheat Board was the imposed, mandated successor to the failed prairie wheat pools. The pools collapsed one by one because the farmers elected to run them were not capable of running them. Years lat-er the reason that progressive, entrepreneurial farmers seldom ran for election as Wheat Board directors is that they understood their limitations. History has evidence that farmers cannot run corporations and corporations cannot run farms. Farmer “control” (not to say “ownership”) of the Wheat Board was a profound fraud and a total misunder-standing of what democracy is and what it can be expected to do.
    We are all done with this. It has been a monumental waste of time, effort and creative energy. The Wheat Board does not deserve to survive in any form or permutation, which statement alone is a departure from AGRIWEEK’s long-standing position. The monopoly Board leaves nothing behind that is useful in a contemporary competitive environ-ment. This state has come about because the elected directors of torpedoed every chance that the successor Board had of survival.
    Onward and upward."

    Morris, you have done a great job... Thankyou and all the best in 2012!

    #2
    I agree T4WILDROSE/CWB!!!!!

    Comment


      #3
      Mr. Dorosh certainly nailed it.

      Comment


        #4
        Thank you to Morris Dorrosh for his unwavering
        support of free marketing, most likely beginning
        when he was weaned.

        Dorrosh always writes with clarity, his pen
        following the shortest path towards making his
        point. And you can count on him to be consistent.

        Thank you, indeed. Pars

        Comment


          #5
          "Thanks Gerry, you are a truly kind and honourable gentleman."


          When you are through lauding this "gentleman", send him a letter asking him why the federal government refuses to take responsibility for their deliberate inaction that triggered the BSE fiasco. His response might cause you to reconsider your choice of descriptors, as it has many cattle producers.

          Regardless of the perceived favor he has done your industry, he's a politician first, Tom, and you would be wise to never forget it.

          Comment


            #6
            Now that we see what is happening, I am not sure I agree that the opposition wouldn't have pushed an election if they had gone ahead with this a couple of years ago. There is something deeply rotten with this organization when you see the lengths that organized labor, public sector labor, and even the bloody United Church are going to to keep this thing as it is.

            Next we will have some judge from eastern ontario step in and say it is just fine to stop western growers from selling to someone of their choice.

            Comment


              #7
              What year was that again? Can't remember right now?

              Comment


                #8
                Burnt,

                When I look at the hours of 'beyond the call of duty' the Hounourable Minister Ritz has done.... plus the horrible media bias and tough issues he was handed... Gerry has been a friend of Agriculture in Canada... Especially Western Canada. Gerry could only proceed with actions the legal dept. of the Government of Canada would allow... NOT his own agenda.

                As for BSE I don't understand how you can blame Gerry for this disaster he had nothing to do with creating. BSE was truly a bad dark part of our history... but so was the colapse in hog markets and high feed costs added on top.

                In the end it was a business choice livestock producers made to be a part of these production systems. NOT Minister Ritz putting a 'gun' to their head telling these farmers they must produce hogs and cattle.

                I stand by my statement. Mark my words... the Hounourable Minister of Agriculture Ritz will be judged by history as one of the most colourful and positive leaders in our nation's history!

                God Bless Canada!

                Comment


                  #9
                  Excellent piece. I wouldn't necessarily agree the opposition don't know what they are talking about. They clearly don't understand agriculture or the western farm mentality. They see the world from a different perspective, with the idea that people and business need to be completely controlled by government and for the benefit of government (as long as they hold government). What we need to be very aware of is that if we are not vigilant these people will at some time form government. It is good to have Tom and Strankman and Rob Anderson running for wildrose and Sorenson, Ritz, Anderson, et al for CPC. Good luck and thank you gentlemen.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Malta,

                    Dave Nelson is our Candidate in Battle River Wainwright for Wildrose.

                    Hope to help all Wildrose Candidates where I can!

                    Politics is a hard teacher and very hard on families and those with farms. Just look at Eddy. Being a leader has its risks...

                    It is kind of you to give your encouragements! Thanks they are appreciated!

                    Comment


                      #11
                      No problem with article when I first read it. Just thought using forced internment of Japanese as comparison a little stretch.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Blackpowder,

                        If you were Andy, his family, or his nieghbours... you might not think the words were STRONG enough! Shackles and strip searched 50 times puts it right up there with cruel and unususal punishment!

                        Comment


                          #13
                          A lot of gibberish designed as a fop for the antis to drool over.

                          Oh the harm the CWB did...oh...oh...oh...my gawd you'd think that we were under the heel of a malicious dictator.

                          My father sold wheat for 25 cents a bushel in 1934 under the open market system and welcomed the CWB where he got a fair deal for his wheat and other grain that he produced.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            A city left winger asked me today at the hospital,
                            what i think about the government tearing the
                            board away from farmers. I told her that i would
                            like to read her the article that says it as
                            eloquently as I would like to. Then she said,
                            Goodale is flabbergasted. I dont know how she
                            knows, Goodale cant be a flabbergasted as the
                            farmers he threw in jail.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Tom, Gerry Ritz is just doing his job - long hours or short - and when his job is done he will continue to be paid a big 5 or 6 figure pension, unlike many others who go long shifts between punching time clock for trifling pay.

                              You are wrong in thinking that I am blaming Ritz for the BSE fiasco. His fault lies in stone-walling those who are asking that the federal government sit sown and talk about what happened.

                              The reason? Cost. He knows that acknowledging that BSE was preventable is going to cost the Government of Canada a lot of money. A LOT of money.

                              Dismantling the CWB comes with no cost attached, thus making it a much easier decision for the government. The difference is that had the government fulfilled its duties, AS DID THOSE OF OTHER COUNTRIES, the BSE mess would never have happened. Thus, it is liable and Ritz knows it.

                              As far as your comment about the cattle industry being a bad choice, well that may have been about the stupidest thing you have ever said on this board! If you had any friends who are in the cattle business, you might want to issue a retraction of that statement...

                              By the same logic, you had no right to complain about growing wheat (or not) just because you thought that the CWB wasn't maximizing profits! You should just have stepped away from growing wheat and shut your mouth - leaving it to those who are more efficient and don't mind selling through the CWB whatever the price!. No one was holding a gun to your head either, ordering you to grow wheat!

                              And as for your comparison between the hog and cattle markets - another fail! I'm not in hogs so I cannot comment on the cause of their difficulties, but I know that it was not a result of bad regulatory decisions by the federal government, more specifically the CFIA.

                              I have no dog in the fight over the death of the CWB - it appears that you consider yourself among the winners, so I'm glad for you. But in view of this, perhaps you should just acknowledge that your high praise of Ritz is nothing other than good, old-fashioned butt kissing.

                              I'm not really into that kind of stuff.

                              Canada bless God!

                              Comment

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