CWB is Dipping into Farmers' Pooling Accounts

[parsley]

And it's not legal!

Every time Farmer Marcel from Quebec applies for an export license, someone has to pay for filling it out, for filing it, for entering it on the computer, and on and on . Someone has to pay for Marcel's free license.

And it doen't end with Marcel either. Someone has to pay for the feed mills' export licenses. And for the Ontario export licenses. And for seedgrower licenses. And on and on.

That someone is Prairie farmers. The CWB takes it right out of the Pooling Accounts even though the CWB Act says that the Federal Government must pay for these licensing costs.

The CWB isn't following the CWB Act. How can farmers make Minister Goodale, who has a feduciary responsibility to follow his own CWB Act, actually follow the law?

Parsley

[TOM4CWB]

Parsley,

Good to hear from you!

Did you read bob4choices monkey story?

Does the CWB even care if they break the law, or do they "stretch" the law to make anything fit, according to their own interpretation?

Will any of this ever be straightened out, or will they just ignore us?

[parsley]

For your information, SARM in Saskatchewan, representing all 297 municipalities, wrote to the Auditor General on 5 November, 2001, requesting examination of the Price Pooling and Payments to Farmers, because of this very issue. SARM obviously doesn't approve of CWB dipping either.

A very important point is this...if the CWB is not following their legislation in the area of licensing costs, in what other areas have they decided to veer from their legislated mandate? And every farmer should ask, " Why would Minister Goodale allow it"?

Parsley

[parsley]

Feed companies bypass both the buyback procedure and pooling when they export through The Export Manufactured Feed Agreement (EMFA) . And they do it all the time.

CWB Director Ian McCreary made it very clear at a meeting last summer, that he was very familiar with and aware of the EMFA and he seemed to infer that he was one of the designers of the EMFA program. He knows that millions of bushels pass through the EMFA and every one of those bushels bypass the pools. No buybacks there.

In the same breath, Director Ian McCreary repeatedly defends his position on denying prairie farmers no-buyback export licenses on the grounds it would destroy pooling! He favors big companies over prairie farmers.

Meantime, CWB Director Jim Chatney strongly advocates providing no buyback export licenses to Prairie farmers.

With up to 75% wheat/ and/ or/ barley in each load exported, each feed company is required to probe and keep on file, a sample from each load. CWB inspectors may come out from the CWB's EMFA Department periodically to audit loads.

----- Who pays for the inspection ?
----- Who pays the employees in the EMFA Department?

The CWB Act requires that all wheat and barley being exported be accompanied by an export license. And these export licenses are issued soley by the CWB. There is no charge or fee for issuing export licenses, yet there exists a very real cost cost for processing these licenses. Guess who pays?

Farmers must not forget that the Government of Canada is legally responsible for paying for all export licensing costs incurred above and beyond the licensing costs of the grain going through the pooling system.

Why is the CWB Act not being followed?

Parsley

[parsley]

The following resolution was passed just recently at the Western Canadaian Wheat Growers Association Annual Meeting:

Whereas pursuant to Part III of the CWB Act, the CWB acts as a marketer of grain grown only in the designated area;

and whereas pursuant to Part IV of the CWB Act, the CWB acts as regulator, and is the issuer of all interprovincial and export licences for all of Canada;

and whereas there is no charge to any applicant for any issued licence, but there are administration costs associated with granting or denying licences and these licence expenses for all of Canada amount to a loss in Part IV;

and whereas Section 7 of the CWB Act states that any profits or losses of the regulatory Part IV are to be paid to, or paid by, the federal government;

and whereas the CWB is taking money from the pooling accounts of farmers in the designated area to pay the regulatory Part IV losses,

Therefore, be it resolved that the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association lobby for the CWB and the Government to follow the CWB Act, and that all past wrongfully appropriated regulatory losses be paid, with interest, by the Federal Government, to farmers in the designated area.

Parsley

[JD_GREEN]

Oh yea!!! Well I was at a CWB meeting in Swift Current on Tuesday and according to them they are doing a fine job for all farmers, and global marketing is just far to complex for a farmer to be able to do market for himself. What a joke!!!!!!!!! With that I have nothing else to say, because I'm busy making a living without the wheatboard.

[parsley]

Good Morning JD_GREEN,

It is very difficult for farmers to go to CWB meetings because there is becoming almost zero opportunity for farmer input at these meetings.

Lately they have been "managing" response very rudely. For example they plan an overflowing agenda that runs through and over the question period time allotment. Or they ask you to hand your question in and then they put it in the bottom of the pile if it's one they don't like.

All with millions of dollars. Your dollars. They have forgotten that they wouldn't have a job if it wasn't for farmers.

Farmers need to change the way the CWB does things. The CWB has overwhelming influence in both transportation and in the grain companies that we need to sell to . Every feed mill and elevator is described, legally , in the CWB Act as being there "for the general advantage of Canada". So they are crippled.

JD_GREEN, the CWB itself is doing things to farmers that isn't in the Act. Taking money for licensing costs for Quebec is just one of them. Farmers can do a lot because the CWB isn't acting legally here. And it's up to farmers to see that they follow the law.

You can start JD_GREEN, or any other Agri-ville farmer, by asking Halpenny if the CWB is skimming, illegally, out of your pooling accounts. Ask him if it's allowed in the legislation. And then call your Director and ask him the same question. They'll try to tell you it's just a little they are stealing. That the Feds are paying us more than they steal. They'lkl give all kinds of reasons to justify why they steal. They will lie if they say they are following the Act in this case. But the point is....if they are not following the legislation on what they consider a " piddly point", imagine what they are doing in other areas . No wonder the pooling accounts are terrible.

I believe farmers can make a difference you really want some positive change.

Parsley

[TOM4CWB]

Parsley,

I believe the CWB staff are really not to blame here!

I spent all day yesterday with thalpenny working on saftey nets, the bottom line is that CWB staff can be the most efficient and hard working people on the face of the planet, but if the vision of the CWB is to refuse to deal with these issues they can do nothing!

thalpenny, or even CEO Greg Arison can do nothing with out the Director's permission. They will be fired if they do.

Since Minister Goodale has stepped out of the sphere of influence, the vision of the CWB has further suffered!

WHY?

If the Minister responsible isn't responsible, and doesn't complain, then steady as she goes, full steam ahead, they believe they are all doing their job, and doing it well!

After all the directors are getting $500.00/day, life is sweet, even if we do complain (Except for Jim Chatenay who has taken the weight of this whole problem to heart).

The sad part is that this CWB ship has hit the shoals, has taken on water and is listing badly.

Most of the directors feel they can power there way through the waters, and by sheer power alone save the ship.

Sadly, the ship is headed directly for the rockey shore and if someone doesn't steer it in a different direction and stop it from taking on water, it will either sink or smash into the rocks and be destroyed.

CWB lack of accountability to the CWB Act is the biggest hole letting in water into the hull, but the root of direction, the "Monopoly" headset is the direction steering this towards the rockey cliffs!

The "Monopoly" is not even in the CWB Act either!!!

If the CWB is to survive they MUST position themselves to market all Canadian grains, and to get to the point where they must drop the "monopoly" headset and be willing to compete and become the most efficient effective value adding marketer on the face of this planet!

Is the CWB willing meet this challenge?

Are Canadian farmers willing to allow them to meet this challenge, and overcome it?

[TOM4CWB]

Parsley,

I have been doing some driving, therefore some late night thinking again...

It occurs to me that the single pricing structure of the CWB is driving commercial processors of wheat and barley into larger and larger organisations!

Even US marketers are forced into this treadmill, to compete against the CWB and AWB...

The result is that we in western Canada are as responsible for creating these multi-national corps as anyone on the planet! This is because of the CWB "Monopoly"

Why?

The more powerful a force is in the marketplace, the more damage can be done to smaller entities that must deal with it.

Therefore the "fight fire with fire" principal comes into effect!

If I can create an alliance with more power than the CWB, then I can actually turn dealing with the CWB into a competitive advatage for my organisation. Why? Because now I have more market power than the CWB and can manipulate these markets to my benefit and to the detriment of the farmers who participate in CWB!

So it doesn't matter if it is railroads, grain handlers, or processors, the larger the entity, the better equiped it will be to take advantage of the CWB. How?

1. Internal information linkages from a larger network can and will exploit least cost inputs and most profitable business practices.

2. Containment of these information networks, and realisation and management of their beneficial nature for this large company, will stop entities like the CWB from gaining access to this important intelegence information.

3. Pure political and monetary power! The bigger my organisation is, the harder it will be to stop my activity simply from a inertia and economic standpoint.


Balance, the world economic systems seek balance. If any one entity is too powerful, human nature trys to create another force to balance this power!

[parsley]

Tom4CWB, as farmers, we need to keep our eyes focused on the amount we deposit in the bank forwarded to us from the CWB pooling accounts. That's what counts. Show me the money, so to speak. Complaining to the companies handling the grain will get us nowhere. Or comparing who has built the biggest fort.

Remember, the CWB has legal obligations written by Parliament. One of those obligations is for the CWB to send the Federal Government the bill for export licensing costs instead of downloading it on the pooling accounts. They aren't.

The CWB legal counsel has a legal and professional obligation to follow the law. The staff in general are supposed to live up to their professional responsibilities. The accounting firm obviously doesn't follow the law. Halpenny may feel loyalty to the Directors, but heart tugs do not supercede the Director's legal responsibilities. And the bottom line is ...the law is being ignored. Certainly in the Enron fiasco , the accountants were shady,as well as a whole lot of other so-called professionals, and most everyone would agree there is a general decline of ethical business practices and of integrity among the professionals these days....right across North America.

And maybe that is why farmers have to demand some answers. Someone has decided not to follow the Act here. But who? And why? And of course, how much is owing?

Parsley

[TOM4CWB]

Parsley,

Do you know how the CWB can get out of these problems?

Do you think the CWB itself knows how to deal with these problems?

Does Minister Goodale know how to fix the CWB's problems?

Does integrety even matter when it comes to interpretation of the law, if the Minister responsible doesn't care, will anyone else care, (that counts of course...)?

[parsley]

Tom 4CWB, you asked four questions and I'll make some comments :

1. Do you know how the CWB can get out of these problems?

- First ...by recognizing there is a breach of the CWB Act

- Second... Acknowledging to farmers that money was taken from their pool accounts when it should have been paid by the Government.

-Thirdly.....Putting those very real losses back into farmers' pooling accounts.

2. Do you think the CWB itself knows how to deal with these problems?

Technically, it really should not be difficult. If it is, they need new management.


3. Does Minister Goodale know how to fix the CWB's problems?

He'd better. He is ultimately responsible for seeing that Parliament's wishes are being followed. If the CWB is in breach, so is Mr. Goodale. He is a Minister of Her Majesty.

4. Does integrety even matter when it comes to interpretation of the law, if the Minister responsible doesn't care, will anyone else care, (that counts of course...)?

A lot of farmers most certainly do care , and we count the very most. It's our livelihood. We need to be very aware of the age-old tactics that have been used against farmers:

....alienation, intimidation, and humiliation.....

Recognize any? We need to recognize these tactics when they are employed to work against farmers' needs . Particularly when we are demanding accountability from those who are supposed to serve us.

By the way, Tom4CWB, integrity always matters.

Parsley

[TOM4CWB]

Parsley,

NOW I agree that what you say is, supposed to be, the way it SHOULD be in a free and democratic society!

But, is this a reality in Canada today?

How do we wake up the CWB directors and Minister Goodale that our human rights are being breached?

[parsley]

I am quoting from two recent comments on this site.

1. rodbradshaw under the heading, Farming with subsidies, posted Feb 6, 2002 9:03, says:
"........ the case where farmers have a single desk selling agency
(CWB), we don't have them working in our best interests"

Obviously, rodbradshaw is not a happy camper with the CWB. Are you a farmer, rodbradshaw?

2. BEAVER MINES, Alta. beef producers Keith and Bev Everts on February 7, 2002 with direct quote from the article:

QUOTE:
Bev said the dual roles of marketer and producer have taught them a lot: "We know how animals that are slow to finish hurt us. We see how each animal performs. We see the statistics and get to see what makes
money right down to the store level. You learn a lot about raising cattle when you see what packers and wholesalers have to do to sell beef."
UNQUOTE

Obviously, the Everts LIVE the imporatance of being a marketer! Pretty hard to tell them they aren't capable, isn't it?

The thing is, farmers need to simply TAKE their industry back. Nobody is going to do it for you.

Demanding answers is a heck of a good start. Really demanding.

When you start to demand answers, you can immediately identify your allies. You're pretty much on your own at first. Like starting a fist fight in the back alley because a guy just robbed you and a bunch of his bloody thugs attack as well . Try to Alienate you. Humiliate you. Intimidate you. Most of the 'well-paids in fancy cars' drive by, because they don't want to "get involved". Then a few guys that understand decency...integrity...that's where it comes in Tom4CWB, get in the action because they don't like what's going on.

And all of a sudden there 's a good solid demanding allied crew. Unrelenting and demanding.

The 'well-paids in fancy cars' will soon parrot what you're demanding when they find out you're winning the fight. Politicians will scramble to catch up. And changes will be made because you made it happen.

Farmers can make it happen.

Parsley

[TOM4CWB]

Parsley,

Now, how do we make this happen?

Do the CWB Directors that run it care?

Does Minister Goodale care?

Will the Sask. or Mb. gov.'s do anything about this?

... farmers may care... but do they care enough?