PR War

[rodb]

We are loosing the PR war on C-18 because we the "silent majority" are sitting back letting the CWB, NFU and their firends beat us in the media.

Start writing Senators from your province with positive well thought stories about how it will effect your farm. This gives Conservative senators ammunition to counteract the social babble from the opposition. It is never to late to change a few minds and get this thing done so that we aren't waiting a year from now for some court case to be done.

[farmaholic]

Rational positive thinking

[rodb]

I need to use spell check but we can no longer be quiet.

[stubblejumper]

How many senators will want to go down in history as being the ones to condone an illegal act.

[riders2010]

Possibly alot more than the ones that support putting farmers in jail for selling their own wheat abroad.

[malta]

The best thing we can do is continue encouraging
our MPs and any senators we know. I am
hopeful that in less than 7 days we will be able
to sent heartfelt thank yous to the CPC,Ritz,
Harper our MP and many others.

[gregpet]

When c-18 receives royal assent and the crazy 8 directors are removed will the CWB still be fighting and/or will the friends
of the CWB have their funding cut off?

[per]

Here is my Senator letter.

December 7, 2011

Senator Elaine McCoy, QC
579-F Centre Block
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A4

Dear Senator,

In a recent visit to your office we had a conversation regarding the future of the Canadian Wheat Board. The Government of Canada has introduced a bill to remove the monopoly of the CWB. As a Western Canadian Farmer I am ecstatic that Agriculture Minister Ritz has taken up a cause near and dear to my heart. I truly believe in the Democracy and the Freedom that comes from a Free Market.

The CWB is everything that is not included in Free Market Democracy. All of the reasons the CWB was created concluded with the end of WWII except the unwritten cheap food policy of the Government of Canada. The CWB did not affect the freedom of farmers in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec or the Maritimes to market their grain as they saw fit. Maybe if it extended to those Provinces we would not finally be free from its authority as it would at least be applied evenly across all who grow wheat and malt barley in this country.

Canola, Feed Grains, Pulses, Oats and Rye are all marketed outside of the CWB. We have a variety of methods to find buyers for these products especially with the advent of instant market information and communications via the internet. Large lots are not necessary in order to find a home for your grain. We often sell one truckload at a time, picked up on the farm of origin, to mills and crushers in both Canada and the United States. If you are not large enough to have one load to sell I would argue you are not a farmer but if that is the case we also share loads with neighbors. When it is going from Calgary to Eugene Oregon the neighbors can be hundreds of miles apart and still be able to make it work.

I am not arguing against Pools. The Bean growers in Southern Alberta subscribe to a private pool to market their Beans. I am told that ninety five percent of those farmers belong to the Pool and the other five percent are happily marketing their own product. A voluntary CWB could still be well subscribed and if they are the market geniuses they would have us believe, we will all be there looking for the best value for our products. As it is, the Wheat prices across the Montana and North Dakota Boarders have been consistently above ours over the years.

The Directors and Chairman Oberg of the CWB try to spin this as a fairness issue and how we are better off with the CWB. They are unwilling to put the necessary time and effort into creating a Dual system of Pooling by a voluntary CWB instead using an all or none attitude. This will result in the failure of the Agency which will be the real tragedy. Failure doesn’t have to be an option but is a Choice of the current Board. Driving a load of Designated grain across the US boarder without an expensive permit will land a farmer in jail. My neighbor and several others have experienced time behind bars for moving their own grain across the Boarder into Montana. We can move any number of other grains and oilseeds across freely but the CWB causes a regulatory burden that will end in jail time or suppressed value, take your choice. No one knows for sure what will happen with prices, marketing, and with the Pooling subscription. All I can offer you is that my wife’s Grandfathers name is in one of those books in the Peace Tower so we can have Freedom and Democracy. The CWB is neither.

As a Lawyer I am sure you have fought for justice and Freedom. The CWB creates a culture of suppression and circumvents Democracy. With the Off Board grains we are free to market outside of their umbrella we have the choice of using several large Multi National companies or conversely several independent brokers or making contact with the end user ourselves. All that is required for access is a telephone to make any of these choices happen. All I ask of the CWB is for it to become one of the many choices and not be a roadblock to the others.

Thank you for your interest. I know you will investigate all sides of this issue and I hope you will conclude that the CWB could live on only as a dual market desk. If the CWB continues the All or Nothing campaign then I would rather have Nothing.

Yours truly,

[wilagro]

You know per...your letter is polite, to the point and would make perfect sense except for ONE thing.

Ritz and Harper have made it pretty clear that by removing ALL elected BOD members and have or will strip the CWB of most of its other regulatory functions except for the buying and trading of wheat and edible/brewable barley, that the CWB will be a shell of its former self. Any positive influence that the current CWB had over grain transportation, grain car allocations, freight rate structure and tariffs will be LOST. Farmers will have LESS control of their marketing in some ways than they do NOW.

[vvalk]

Wilagro. We have zero control now. You make the
assumption that the board is working on your
behalf. You think that the board is working behalf
of your best interests. I would argue they work on
behalf of their customers, those buying the wheat
therefore against the farmers interests. Why else
would the PRO for #1 wheat be under $6. This is
an avg price and they are 40% sold. This must
mean they plan to sell the remaining 60% in the
$4 range. Stubble. If the conservatives are doing
something so illigal why didn't the judge stop
them. He made it VERY clear that the legislation
could continue. So what,that it went against the
spirit of the former legislation. It's not like some
higher power made this legislation, it was put in
by Ralph Goodale. What makes you think that a
farmer vote can control the legislation process.
Talk about anarchy if that was to set a precedent,
therefore the judge could not do anything about it.