How high can this market go? Will 40 cents be the cap for old crop.
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CWB response:
CWB’s future must be left in hands of producers
February 29, 2008
Winnipeg – Farmers must be the ones to decide the future of the CWB, through proper processes that recognize the legitimacy of their democratically elected representatives, CWB board chair Ken Ritter said today.
Ritter was responding to an announcement today by the Hon. Gerry Ritz, Minister for the CWB, that he will introduce legislation into Parliament to remove barley from the CWB’s single-desk marketing system.
“We oppose this legislation because of the very important principle at stake – that farmers are supposed to control and direct their grain-marketing organization,” said Ritter, who farms near Kindersley, Saskatchewan. “Major legislative changes to the Canadian Wheat Board Act in 1998 were specifically carried out to give farmers this control through creation of a farmer-elected board of directors and other provisions.”
Ritter said the government’s actions circumvent a process put in place to give grain producers the final say over their own marketing system. Under the Act, changes to the CWB’s single-desk authority can be legislated only after the Minister has consulted with the CWB board of directors and held a valid referendum among producers.
“We have not been consulted on this legislation. Besides contravening the Act, this also raises concerns about respect for the democratic process and recognition of elected directors as the legitimate representatives of farmers.”
In addition, Ritter said the plebiscite held last year by the federal government cannot constitute a valid referendum. The Minister at the time stated that it was not binding. Problems with the plebiscite, including a controversial three-pronged question and questions about the voters’ list, also undermine the validity of its results.
“It was not a proper referendum by any measuring stick,” he said. In the 2007 CWB producer survey, 90 per cent of producers agreed that they, not government, should make any decisions to end the single desk. “If the government is truly interested in consulting producers, it will hold a binding referendum with a clear and simple question before tabling the legislation.”
Ritter said the introduction of legislation continues a second straight year of uncertainty in for barley marketing. “Farmers want to get on with their business, they want this to end,” Ritter said. “We need to respond to their wishes in a responsible way and get on with the business of marketing barley for maximum farmer return.”
The CWB will review the legislation when it is tabled next week to assess the extent it erodes farmer control. A court challenge of the federal government’s attempted regulatory changes to barley marketing was initiated by the CWB last year to uphold the same principle of farmer control, Ritter added. On February 26, the federal court of appeal upheld a July 31, 2007 federal court ruling that agreed with the CWB’s interpretation of the law pertaining to barley marketing and farmer control.
Controlled by western Canadian farmers, the CWB is the largest wheat and barley marketer in the world. One of Canada's biggest exporters, the Winnipeg-based organization sells grain to over 70 countries and returns all sales revenue, less marketing costs, to farmers.
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will wait till I thaw out, reading what the CWB line of bs is now, just makes me want to puke.
Todays rally saw a strong contingent of young producers that know a progressive posperous future is marketing freedom.
They went head to head with the handfull of NFU'ers and FCWB. Refressing to see, and yes caused some strong words to be passed between participants.
Just goes to show that the future of farming in western Canada lays in the hands of interprising producers that know that with out change and choice marketing , they won't have a future.
Good luck CWB, just try to fight this legislation !!
Erik
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My favorite line of the day was when a couple of good young guys asked an old(85 ) NFU type.
"how relevant this all is to them as they don't farm anymore, and will likely be dead in <5 yrs anyways"
Not quite the real quote but that was the gist of it.
It was alot less tact than what I would have used but I did snicker.
Also saw Vader do an interview in where he was describing himself as a farmer and a tall lanky choice guy was in the back ground pointing out that he was also a Liberal candidate.
I never even talked to the bad guys other than Vader and Agstar, even then it was not mean
I don't get people trying to change others minds at these things,it's not like it's ever happened.
All in all other than freezing my nads off it was a great day for FREEDOM!
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Malt barley is more than a bottle of Molson: Canadian Wheat Board takes to podium
Posted: February 29, 2008, 5:49 PM by Karen Hawthorne
Canada, Alberta election, Kevin Libin
The federal agriculture minister, Gerry Ritz, marched onto the steps of the Saskatchewan legislature today to announce that his government will table a bill next week that will let western producers of malt barley opt out of the Canadian Wheat Board and sell their grains privately, just like their peers in the rest of the country do now. You can read my column today to get some background on what this is all about, how we came to this point, and why this issue actually matters even to the 99.999% of voters in this country whose primary contact with malt barley comes from a Molson bottle, not a tractor. In short, this is a promise the Tories have bound themselves to, including in their throne speech. Says Mr. Ritz: "This bill will deliver on our Throne Speech commitment and will bring barley marketing freedom to the strong and growing majority of producers who are demanding it."
And Prime Minister Stephen Harper has indicated that once the Liberals passed the Throne Speech, he would consider all of the promises he made there as part of his “mandate to govern”— leaving some observers wondering if he’ll make good on that vow, and make this a confidence vote, since all three opposition parties have promised to oppose any changes.
The choice of venue is a significant one: The Saskatchewan government had until recently been a reliable ally of the Wheat Board in the fight to stop farmers from having a choice in marketing their grains. Recently elected premier Brad Wall changed that, and now supports the marketing choice cause, meaning two out of the three provinces controlled by the board now support ending the CWB’s marketing monopoly, not to mention the majority of farmers who voted in last year’s plebiscite.
The Canadian Wheat Board may be a creature of federal legislation, but it has become the government’s biggest opponent in this battle. It issued a news release today renouncing the proposed law, insisting that it should be farmers, alone, who decide what happens to the board. That’s an interesting position and could lead to some complicated lawmaking if it becomes a precedent (I can’t imagine most Canadians would be comfortable with just teachers determining their province’s education policy or CEOs given sole power to write federal industrial policy). It’s also curious, since it was the CWB that successfully challenged the government in court claiming that any changes to the board couldn’t be done through regulation alone, as the Tories had first attempted to do, since the Board answered to Parliament not the cabinet. But then, that was earlier this week. This is now.
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I'm not sure which thought gives me more pleasure,
barley becoming a real open market cash crop,
or having a federal election about "Barley".
and listening to Dion and Goodale explain to Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver why they couldn't allow the Tories to give western farmers marketing freedom for barley. And listening to the MSM try to explain it to them.
I'd bet anyone a fin ($5) that once Montrealers, Torontonians and Vancouverites become aware of the issue they would support marketing choice for their fellow Canadians and would punish the Libs BIG TIME for forcing an election because of it.
It might even be worth being stuck in the barley(and wheat) marketing abyss for a few extra months, just to witness the spectacle of it all.
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Exactly Adam! This is long overdue, and watching a gneral election occur, due to a CWB free market issue would sure make the debates an interesting spectacle. I don't think the libs would go so far as generate an election on this issue. Do you? I hope so.
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The bill will either die on the order paper or end up dead after an election call. You really think the neo-cons want to try to explain to easterners why they forced an election over Beer? We want an election so livestock producers can have cheaper feed and Canadians can have cheaper beer?
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An election over the barley issue, what great entertainment that will provide, just hope the vote is not during seeding as this is going to be fun to watch. D'yawn and Taliban Jack will have a hard time stating their case to Eastern Canada, the west has already tuned them out. How can these two clowns debate intelligently on the subject, my guess is they don't know the difference between a bushel of barley and a bale of hay. All they have shown up to now is blind support for an archaic institution that has long past its usefulness, if it ever was useful.
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