CWB MONOPOLY...Barley prices in Chaos

[TOM4CWB]

Henbent;

The real dividends to date have gone to the CWB globe trotting directors ($500/day)... to the Airlines, but certainly not into our returns for our grain.

I was much happier with the commissioner set up before the 1998 CWB Act changes...

Now we have 14 people doing what 3 did before... this is CWB efficiency...

According to Minister Goodale... Marketing change will only happen by a direct producer vote... so Directors are window dressing on Goodale's pet project... not what most would consider constructive or productive.

Chairman Ritter is so proud, that he has not planned to even come to the Alberta part of District 4...

Director Oberg appears to have taken over Chairman Ritters Alberta "Corporate Accountability" responsibilities...

Kind of smacks of cowardice... doesn't it?

[boone]

Tom4cwb, you say you would prefer the old system of appointed commissioner. Well many years ago I asked one of ours, Mr. Jim Leibfried to make a public comment on changes in our freight rates at a meeting in Lloydminster, Ted Strain was chairing the meeting and saved him. But later he had indicated he wasn't allowed a public opinion. Now I would say we have more clarity and open responses today. In spite of the fact that, the commissioner was very knowledgeable on many facts of the grain biz. We would be hard pressed to find out what they were. Boone

[TOM4CWB]

Boone;

Commissioner Ken Beswick, God rest his soul, was much closer to resolving our problems with CWB barley marketing.... than the Directors have even come close to thinking of.

I see Director James Chatenay's job has being an exercise in excruciating frustration... with the reward of cruel and unusual punishment waiting for him at every turn...

The CWB staff run the CWB just as they did when Commissioners were there...

Proof of this is Adrian Measner being installed instead of allowing new blood...

The CWB is so inbred today it become functionally a basket case... and the Majority of the Directors would not have it any other way...

Minister Goodale has a big problem on his hands... his pet has turned on him... it has interbred and evolved into....

Without respect for each farmers legal right to own property individually... as clearly the Ontario Wheat Board accepts... the CWB is doomed... legally and morally

[boone]

Tom4cwb I agree K. Beswick was a breath of fresh air. I'm done on this soapbox however. See you in a different string. Boone

[henbent]

TOM4CWB, Now let me get this straight, a worldwide international grain exporting business, should confine its directors to their office in Winnipeg! The only way that you could justify doing that is if you believe they are, mentally challenged farmers, who were previously challenged farm boys, who will probably get lost. The directors have a job to do and travel is required to complete their assignments on occassion. Ridicule of this nature smacks of jealousy. I suspect the farm directors are for the most part hard working people trying to do the best job possible. Being constantly sniped at and criticized by others envious of their positions doesn't help. Lets take a huge step backwards, have the Lib----- appoint directors is ridiculous from my point of view.

[parsley]

Darrell,

You say,
"Would a new age CWB sit down with producers and help them build business plans that meet today's and tomorrows needs?"

Are you saying you would you like someone like CWB Director Rod Flaman to sit down and tell you how to build a business?

Parsley

[TOM4CWB]

Henbent;

The Liberals do appoint 5 of the directors... in case you had forgotten...

If you like your CWB directors to do world tours... fine with me...

Allow me the choice to remove myself from your CWB... then it works just great for me.

By the way... if you allowed me market choice... and the CWB understood why respecting my property is nessasary...

then at that point...

"my" CWB directors wouldn't have any need to lobby the WTO for survival... they would already be in full compliance with the WTO...

which is where we should have been at 10 years ago... when this whole mess was started, by, jealous and greedy souls like... Minister Goodale, Nettie Weebe, and Art Macklin!

Do you think you deserved a chunk of the poor farmer's fusarium ravaged wheat field's revenue too Henbent?

Was it better to have the CWB give it to CWB Agent grain co's... than to the farmers who had the disaster in the first place?

[parsley]

Darrell and tom4CWB,
These exerpts are from a Canadian Alliance newsletter titled PAUL MARTIN WATCH and dated March 6, 2003

QUOTE
Since 1993, Canadians have been led to believe that Paul Martin had severed his day-to-day ties to his vast shipping enterprise, Canada Steamship Lines. We were assured that there could be no conflicts between Mr. Martin’s public duties and his private interests because everything was in a blind trust.

Unknown to Canadians, however, Paul Martin received regular briefings on CSL business, and his so-called blind trust was actually a special “Supervisory Agreement” that allowed him some disclosure of information related to his assets, company operations and CSL transactions. Instead of a blind trust we got an ethics framework that blinded the public and not the minister. That’s wrong.

Paul Martin has to decide where his first loyalty will lie if he becomes prime minister – to his private financial interests or to the interests of the people of Canada. He cannot be the CEO of the country and a hands-on CEO of a half-a-billion dollar shipping empire at the same time.

This issue has nothing to do with Paul Martin’s money or the place of entrepreneurs in Canadian politics. It has everything to do with the possibility of conflicts of interest and the impossibility of separating oneself from such a large and far-reaching family business.

To put this in context, here are some facts about Paul Martin and Canada Steamship Lines:

Background

* Paul Martin and his wife Sheila are sole proprietors of a private, non-publicly-traded, family business called Canada Steamship Lines.
* This personal business empire is a conglomerate of 47 companies with a fleet of 37 ships. The fleet is larger than the entire Canadian navy, and CSL is the largest operator of self-unloading ships in the world.
* In March 2001, the CSL Group’s assets were valued at $693,388,000 with total annual sales of $283,181,000.

How CSL Intersects With Government

* CSL is so big, Paul Martin would have to withdraw from Cabinet deliberations on any matter relating to shipbuilding policy, marine transportation, VIA Rail, the St. Lawrence Seaway, corporate taxation, customs regulations and many, many more topics.
* They might as well install a revolving door on the Cabinet Room.

CSL’s Foreign Operations and Practices

* When Paul Martin purchased CSL in 1981, the company conducted its affairs in Canada, employed Canadian crews, and built ships in Canada. Over twenty years later, most of CSL’s affiliates are primarily located in Barbados, Bermuda, and Liberia.
* In Liberia, CSL pays a flat tax of $350 (US) a year. Bermuda has no tax on revenues. Barbados offers a decreasing tax rate from 2.5% to 1%.
* In 1989, CSL began to reflag its fleet. Foreign crews do not receive the same salaries or benefits as their Canadian counterparts and, when employing foreign crews, shipowners do not have to abide by the higher Canadian marine safety standards.
* Recently, CSL shipbuilding has taken place offshore, primarily at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, China. This despite a Government of Canada report calling for a revitalization of our home-grown shipbuilding industry which has been battered by foreign subsidies and unfair trade practices.
UNQUOTE


The reason I posted this unforgiveably long information is because I want to ask the question, With all the grain that is shipped via CSL, can the the CWB's Goodale be truly working in the interest of farmers?

Parsley

[TOM4CWB]

Parsley;

IF you ask me... I would be much more comfortable with John Manley than Paul Martin as PM...

Martin's management of CSL show just how sly and slick he really is... just what a poor corporate citizen his empire is... by re-flagging his ships and ordering new ones from China...

THis is obviously in the interests of the Martin EMPIRE... and not for the good of our Country.

Goodale keeps Martin's boats busy... as much as they can get away with at least!

[Darrell]

Parsley; In a way, we have grown up in a prearranged marriage with a CWB husband that makes all the demands and doesn't respect the individual wishs of his wife the farmer. When there is serious accountability problems such as we see, I am leary of doing business with someone who doesn't spend time and see the needs my family or my kids need to survive and become a healthy farm family. We are locked into doing business with CWB with their agenda, with wheat and barley sales but with my experince last year, I found the "Rods" or any other discussions I have atttemped have ended up with someone elses agenda being served instead of what should have been my own.