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The Leader-Post
Mia Rabson
Legislation would put restrictions on voters' list
OTTAWA -- Small-time grain farmers from Canada's Prairies will be cut off from voting in elections for the Canadian Wheat Board under new legislation introduced Tuesday by Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.
Bill C-57 will restrict the voters' list for the 10 elected members of the board of directors to "actual producers who produced at least 120 tonnes of grain in either of the two previous completed crop years."
Currently there is no production requirement and Ritz said in a statement the changes will ensure only active farmers get a vote, not those who have retired, rented out their land or only grow small amounts of grain as a hobby.
"You earn the right to call yourself a farmer by growing crops, not by filing paperwork," Ritz said in a news release.
Larry Hill, chairman of the Canadian Wheat Board, said he isn't sure yet how the change will affect the voters' list.
One hundred and twenty tonnes is not a huge amount of grain, Hill said, but he added that Tuesday was the first he'd heard of the change and the board hasn't had time yet to look at the idea.
The board meets for a regular meeting starting Wednesday and will discuss it then, said Hill.
"We will respond to the minister with what we think," said Hill.
Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter said he wonders why Ritz is introducing this bill now when his other wheat board amendments to open up barley marketing have not even been brought to the House for debate yet.
"I am suspicious of it," said Easter. "I think there is more to this than meets the eye."
Easter said he agrees that only farmers who actually produce grain and deliver it to the wheat board should be allowed to vote.
But he said this government has a poor record in democracy when it comes to the wheat board plebiscite held in 2007.
"I think we have every right to be suspicious now," said Easter.
NDP Wheat Board critic Pat Martin said if this is just about ensuring only actual producers get to vote the production requirement should be much lower.
He said he plans to amend it at committee to be 10 tonnes, not 120 tonnes.
Manitoba farmer Butch Harder, a spokesman for Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board, said this is a "draconian" measure that is intended to rig the next elections so the government can put more anti-CWB monopoly directors on the board.
"This restricts the right of the smaller producer to have a vote," he said.
"It says if you're a big producer you have power and if you're small you have none. Are they next going to say people with low incomes shouldn't get to vote in the next federal election?"
Jeff Nielsen, president of the Western Barley Growers Association, which supports the government's bid to end the CWB monopoly, said this measure is welcome.
"This isn't ganging up on the wheat board, this is strengthening it," he said.
But Stewart Wells, president of the National Farmers Union, blasted the amendments to the CWB Act as just another attempt by the federal Conservatives to undermine the single-desk system of marketing of wheat and barley.
"I don't believe it's reasonable at all,'' Wells said of restricting voting in CWB elections to farmers producing a minimum of 120 tonnes over two years.
"The people that are called producers, most of them are legitimate farmers or farmers who have rented out their land ... and are still relying on the income from that land. They have a legitimate financial interest in how that grain is marketed.''
UNQUOTE
The Leader-Post
Mia Rabson
Legislation would put restrictions on voters' list
OTTAWA -- Small-time grain farmers from Canada's Prairies will be cut off from voting in elections for the Canadian Wheat Board under new legislation introduced Tuesday by Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.
Bill C-57 will restrict the voters' list for the 10 elected members of the board of directors to "actual producers who produced at least 120 tonnes of grain in either of the two previous completed crop years."
Currently there is no production requirement and Ritz said in a statement the changes will ensure only active farmers get a vote, not those who have retired, rented out their land or only grow small amounts of grain as a hobby.
"You earn the right to call yourself a farmer by growing crops, not by filing paperwork," Ritz said in a news release.
Larry Hill, chairman of the Canadian Wheat Board, said he isn't sure yet how the change will affect the voters' list.
One hundred and twenty tonnes is not a huge amount of grain, Hill said, but he added that Tuesday was the first he'd heard of the change and the board hasn't had time yet to look at the idea.
The board meets for a regular meeting starting Wednesday and will discuss it then, said Hill.
"We will respond to the minister with what we think," said Hill.
Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter said he wonders why Ritz is introducing this bill now when his other wheat board amendments to open up barley marketing have not even been brought to the House for debate yet.
"I am suspicious of it," said Easter. "I think there is more to this than meets the eye."
Easter said he agrees that only farmers who actually produce grain and deliver it to the wheat board should be allowed to vote.
But he said this government has a poor record in democracy when it comes to the wheat board plebiscite held in 2007.
"I think we have every right to be suspicious now," said Easter.
NDP Wheat Board critic Pat Martin said if this is just about ensuring only actual producers get to vote the production requirement should be much lower.
He said he plans to amend it at committee to be 10 tonnes, not 120 tonnes.
Manitoba farmer Butch Harder, a spokesman for Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board, said this is a "draconian" measure that is intended to rig the next elections so the government can put more anti-CWB monopoly directors on the board.
"This restricts the right of the smaller producer to have a vote," he said.
"It says if you're a big producer you have power and if you're small you have none. Are they next going to say people with low incomes shouldn't get to vote in the next federal election?"
Jeff Nielsen, president of the Western Barley Growers Association, which supports the government's bid to end the CWB monopoly, said this measure is welcome.
"This isn't ganging up on the wheat board, this is strengthening it," he said.
But Stewart Wells, president of the National Farmers Union, blasted the amendments to the CWB Act as just another attempt by the federal Conservatives to undermine the single-desk system of marketing of wheat and barley.
"I don't believe it's reasonable at all,'' Wells said of restricting voting in CWB elections to farmers producing a minimum of 120 tonnes over two years.
"The people that are called producers, most of them are legitimate farmers or farmers who have rented out their land ... and are still relying on the income from that land. They have a legitimate financial interest in how that grain is marketed.''
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