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Ken Beswick quote

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    Ken Beswick quote

    Just to balance the record, let me quote from the May 9, 1996 edition of the Manitoba Co-operator newspaper:


    Beswick says he is, and always has been, a staunch supporter of the Canadian Wheat Board as a single desk marketing agency for export wheat and barley. He also says the so-called continental market proposed by some is just another word for an open market. While the feed and barley trade would likely see little effect of an open border, Beswick said he has become convinced it would be bad news for the malting barley producer.
    The dynamics of the marketplace would probably cause Canadian prices to fall going into the U.S. market, Beswick said. We saw that, (during the brief time the border was open in 1993) and I think it would happen again.
    I was one of the people who said it wouldn't happen and I was wrong-In a candid interview last week, Beswick condemned the extreme views which have polarized the industry between those who want no change to the board and those who want it eliminated. I have no patience at all for the lunatic fringe, he said. I think they do not help and I really lament what has happened to the industry I have spent my entire life in.
    I think there are people out there who are not talking about the right things, he said. There are people who are taking my resignation from the board as something it was not.
    I am in no way saying the board is not an effective marketer, he said. I think that it is among the best in the world at marketing grain. It stands toe to toe with the heavy weights out there in the global environment and I think from my window at the board I would not advocate the elimination of single-desk status.
    (1655 )
    The article concludes with the following quotation:


    The single-desk seller is a powerful way to be. It is a powerful, powerful marketing tool in the world.

    #2
    It seems that if you have strong convictions on an issue then you are part of the "Lunatic Fringe". There certainly are many lunatics on both sides of this issue. What exactly is the middle ground? Status Quo? Sure am glad there were people in the past that thought outside of the box even though they were more than likely labeled "Lunatics".

    Comment


      #3
      Vader

      Just looking for a reference on the quote. Could be internet link. Could be an exact reference to a Cooperator article in a specific edition (volume, date, page, etc.).

      Comment


        #4
        If its such a wounderful marketing tool why oh why are we loosing millions of dollars this year.
        HM any more people you want to dig up VADER

        Comment


          #5
          Vader,

          You missed the point.

          Ken and I spent an hour together... just before he announced his resignation.

          Vader... the deception MUST STOP.

          It KILLED Ken... to see those, who like you.,. choose to ignore the requirement that would allow discipline... while building on communication and integrity... pull the CWB lower and lower. Even Goodale and Alcock knew there was so much more that was required of the CWB single minded folks with blinders... yet you choose to be the worst.

          Too bad the fundamental issue that caused Ken to resign... the $350,000,000 lost till his resignation in 96... in barley... got missed in your analysis.

          We could put together a good system that would rock your socks Vader... but you have no intention of doing what is necessary to fix the CWB... as Lorne Hein before you clearly refused to do.

          To bring up Ken, to defend your lack of respect and integrity for grain growers in the "designated area" (as indicated in Millions thread); proves your clear contempt for the freedom Ken fought and died for.

          God bless you Vader... but in intentionally leaving those of us who know what it would take to discipline and move the CWB to a mature respectful organisation... you are writing it off.

          The greater the risk... the greater the reward.

          Without trust, no team will ever perform effectively.

          Work productively within a team, trust others and value their contribution, but always be personally accountable for the consequences of your own actions.

          The key to life is a combination.

          It is one of the great paradoxes of human existence that, by nature, we seek out comfort and predictability, using all of our financial resources and intellectual power to devise technologies that will make our lives easier and less stressful. The Paradox is that once we have created the comfort we desire, we must leave it all behind if we are to move forward toward future opportunity.

          The fatal flaw in your plan... is to choose arrogance over honest accommodation and desire to meet the true needs of your principal client base you MUST satisfy... The Innovative COMMERCIAL grain growers that challenge the CWB system.

          You have done this at your own peril.

          DO you truly believe Ken would say any different?

          Comment


            #6
            I had coffee with Ken just before he handed in his resignation. He walked over from the Lombard cafe back to the CWB office and faxed it to Goodale.

            Have you ever met Beswick, Vader or are you basing your assumption from one article?

            I've never met you. Can I base my opinion of you from this article?

            Sept 09/1999


            http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_omalley/archive/martin990909.html

            Flaman hopes that a genuine tax revolt will fashion a psychological makeover among farmers. Farmers who are delinquent in taxes for a year get named as a delinquent, which has always been a source of great shame. Flaman wants delinquency on taxation to become "a badge of honour" among farmers.

            Even if it comes to threats of foreclosure, Flaman says farmers should hold fast and not be frightened into submission. He has some practical advice: it takes a year before one is named, another year before any legal action is started, then probably another year before a farmer is taken to court. If the judge decides the farmer is making an effort to pay - if he hands over a couple of hundred dollars - the judge may give him more time. At the least, Flaman figures the farmer has three years on his side before steps are taken to foreclose his property.

            Flaman also wants farmers to seriously diversify, whether it's raising elk for the velvet in their horns, or growing ginseng or hemp. "Why are we producing all of this wheat for export? It's not helping producers. The starving people of the world aren't benefiting, because they can't afford to buy our grain."

            Hemp is a perfect Canadian crop, Flaman says, though he himself isn't growing it. He wants Canada to cut down importing cotton, rayon and nylon and grow hemp for a made-in-Canada solution. "Let's start producing something that we can consume here in Canada. Overnight we could displace 50 per cent of our wheat exports. And it would create jobs. The hell with exporting. We're just feeding the transportation system."


            Former CWB commissioner dead at 56
            this document web posted: 2001-12-20

            http://www.producer.com/free/editorial/news.php?iss=2001-12-20&sec=news&sto=68

            Comment


              #7
              Next time you cut and paste from Hansard, Vader - you might want to take out the times. Last i checked newspapers were not recording times like Hansard.

              http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=2332598&Language=E&Mode=1&P arl=35&Ses=2#CANADIANWHEATBOARD

              CANADIAN WHEAT BOARD
              Mr. Elwin Hermanson (Kindersley-Lloydminster, Ref.): Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Wheat Board is currently holding a conference in Saskatoon on adding value to prairie cereal grains. The potential for value added products for grain is great, but in reality the Canadian Wheat Board continues to kill value added by making farmers go through the costly and time consuming exercise of buying back their grain from the board to sell to processors.
              Will the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food quit stalling and make changes now to the Canadian Wheat Board that will remove the roadblocks to establishing more milling, malting and other value added processing across the prairies, creating real jobs and real economic growth?

              Hon. Ralph E. Goodale (Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, members of the Reform Party have asked a number of questions in the past, indicating their opposition to the Canadian Wheat Board. Those questions have been answered, but they appear to be impervious to logic.

              Let me try another tack. I would like to quote the May 9 edition of the Manitoba Co-Operator and particularly remarks made by Mr. Ken Beswick, a former commissioner of the Canadian Wheat Board who recently resigned. Mr. Beswick said: ``I am in no way saying the board is not an effective marketer. I think that it is among the best in the world at marketing grain. It stands toe to toe with the heavyweights out there in the global environment. And I think from my window at the board I would not advocate the elimination of single desk selling''.

              Mr. Elwin Hermanson (Kindersley-Lloydminster, Ref.): Mr. Speaker, the minister must not have heard my question. I was talking about some roadblocks and he got off on another topic all together.

              His department has announced a magic scheme to encourage value added processing on the prairies by offering to help the agriculture sector create business plans. Well, it is the minister who needs the business plan.

              Prairie farmers have to buy their own grain back at Minneapolis spot prices in order to sell to millers and maltsters down the road.

              Why does the minister not force the Canadian Wheat Board to use its own forecasted final prices as the basis for grain sales to local markets, or better yet, let producers sell outside the board to millers?

              (1500)

              Hon. Ralph E. Goodale (Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I take from the hon. member's preamble that he has now conceded the basic point about single desk selling.

              The hon. gentleman should review the submissions made to the Western Grain Marketing Panel by the Millers and Bakers Association of Canada. It supported the Canadian Wheat Board before the Western Grain Marketing Panel.

              It is possible that some new and more flexible ways can be devised in terms of pricing mechanisms pertaining to the Canadian Wheat Board. I will very anxiously await the advice of the Western Grain Marketing Panel at the end of this month. When we have its report we will each be in a better position to make sound decisions for the long term, rather than constantly jumping the gun like the knee-jerk Reformers.

              Comment


                #8
                LWeber,

                Interesting... that the Western Grain Marketing Panel recommended free export licences... for feed barley... way back in 1996... issued by the CWB itself.

                If I were Minister Ritz... I would dust off that report... and implement recommendations from that report to solve some of our problems we face today. Minister Ritz needs to remove Goodale's revenge clauses from the CWB Act. Replace them with logical fair legislation that follows and implements Goodale's own report.

                That would be sweet politics... and turn the tables on Goodale!

                Comment

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