"Designated Area" WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE 1993?

[TOM4CWB]

Silverback, Randy;

Just going through in my mind what has just happened on Ralphie G's watch since 1993.

The Crow given away;

The "Canadian Dream" CN Rail given away;

The CWB as a low cost marketer: terminated.

ASTONISHING!

What protection for us as grain growers was built into these new insitutions?

The Liberals gave away our competitive advantage... and have left us with the highest cost system in the world...

Goodale and the Liberals leave us strangled:

To compete with the southern/eastern hemisphere advantages of:
Low cost labour;
Low cost inputs;
Low cost land values;
Green revolution biotech benefits on Corn/Rice/Beans;
Low cost financial risk management/low cost capital;
Integration benefits in the global marketing chains that do exist;
Put farmers in jail for giving a sack of grain to 4-Her's/protest marketings... to maintain control;

Changed the law instantly... when the CWB was judged to be illegally attacking "designated area" grain growers;

Put turned around and got farmers put in jail for giving a sack of grain to 4-Her's/or protest marketings... to maintain control;

In Sept/05...Lost our elder folks some $30billion from income trusts (Got greedy and wanted to double tax us);
Then turned around and gave his freinds an election gift worth $100's of millions it appears in the reversal of this greedy tax grab!


In Short... Ralph has given away the "designated area" store... while we watched.

And this is the Liberal government's
legacy is WHAT?

The PM claims Ralph Goodale is the most honest trusted person in Canada?!?


S I C K !

[TOM4CWB]

Sorry about the rant..

Do you get the idea... why I am angry?

Why would I ask my children to invest in the future of western CDN AG... if this Goodale guy is to be in charge for the next decade?

[RandyH]

Tom
It is all about control.
They have put in instituions to control the west....period
Ralph is to stupid to be a crook, I won't give him credit to mastermind these things.
If he was working for us we would have had better crop insurance, better competition laws, better support to fight the trade wars in grain industry.
What is intresting right now is his sense of right and wrong along with his sense of honor, both appear to be lacking.
Remember "oil for food in Irag"...I think that the CWB and Ralph need to be put under the microscope on this issue...something stinks here and unfortunately we can't get in to look at the books to investigate
I am going to sell out of the canadian industry this year....partly because I have lost to much money in the past 5 years that I don't have the apetite to risk any more equity but mainly because I see that the ag industry in Canada lack vision and the people with the vision are shackled similar to way new industries are attacked when they go into the Ukraine ( thats another topic I wil explain in Calagary in Febuary)
Why would I risk a couple million of dollars to grow something that I can't market myself....Why would I leave the most important part of any business (marketing) up to somebody without a vested intrest
Why would I put faith in a board that has a corrupt voting list. Who's directors who I think don't have a mandate to direct because of this corrupt voting list
Why piss around in this industry to fight with stupid people such as the NFU...And stupid is being nice to them
What has happened since 1993 a lot of my friends and nieghbors have been forced out of the industry... But who cares???? If we keep beating our heads against this cement wall somday the wall will crack..just how big of head ache are you willing to put up with till that day

[TOM4CWB]

Silverback, Randy;

How come no one has brought up the $5 billion Cdn banks lost to Enron on the Martin/Goodale watch...

We all will pay dearly for this fiasco over the next few years!

[TOM4CWB]

Randy;

Thanks for giving it a try... can't say I blame you for turning the keys back in!

True child abuse will be trying to make the next generation farm the way we have done it... as a bunch in western Canada!

[parsley]

http://www.perfectimingnetwork.com/admin/uploads/TricycleFactSheetN10.pdf

[silverback]

I'm just sitting here kinda numb after reading what randy has posted, and Tom, and listening to all the scandals happening around Ottawa, and reading what the "negotiators" were doing in China, and etc, etc., etc., ...

What the hell has happened to this country?? Who have we allowed to take over our property??

I don't really know what else to say. I am mad, sad, horrified, disgusted, and just really, really tired of the whole thing. Where did things go so wrong? We are the ones sweating to produce the food to keep everyone going and we are getting ground into the mud. Someone point to some hope for this industry if you can. And if someone says "Organic" I am gonna pop.

[TOM4CWB]

Randy;

You say that Goodale is "to stupid to be a crook."

Ralph has been in charge of western Canada since 1993!

But you know this as well as I do.

When JC was the PM, Ralph was the inside man... I understand Paul and Ralph actually had an appartment together in Ottawa back some 10 years ago.

When Ralph took over Natural Rersourses from Anne; one of our family was in forestry at the time. Anne did her best in this person's opinion... when Ralph came in it became a bad joke about the way he ran things in the dept.

The implementation of the Western Grain Marketing Panel Report... which could have fixed the CWB if it had been implemented... is another deliberate bad faith action by Goodale.
Indian Affairs was no less a mess... Goodale watched while things literally fell apart on the reserves... a simple lack of vision to lead us effectively.

I will be VERY surprised if Ralph or his dept. gets convicted of anything; the RCMP has become a political animal... and the Sponsorship Scandal/APEC/CWB prove it.

But HEY; they haven't put us in Jail yet... they haven't stopped us from expressing honest opinion here either!

Silverback... no matter what... we still live in the best most Blessed country on this planet! HOPE we can all do a little deed each day... to make this country a better place!

May 2006 be blessed with honest people who guide Canada with peace, faith, and loving leadership.

This means each one of us needs to do our part to make this nation a better place!

God Bless Canada!

[Jman]

Some good points to consider.

However, the plight of the W. Can farmer is not unique. In fact, ask any grain/oilseed producer in SW Ontario, Mid-West USA, Australia, UK, etc, they are all facing the same dilemma of increasing productivity resulting from modern agriculture, along with the assurance of steady supply. Productivity is increasing, therefore fewer farmers are required. Every time a grain farmer buys a $400,000 combine, a $350,000 tractor, a 70’ air seeder, and purchases $40/acre canola-hybrid seed that will yield 50 bu/acre, and permits the use of his face in an advertisement for a “free t-shirt” ,is increasing the bar for everyone else to lower their overall production costs.

As a consequence, It is only natural that the cost of farm commodities must come down with these efficiencies. After all, when was the last time you remember a country going hungry because there was no grain left in the world? The only reason people go hungry in the world is due to distribution, war and government policy that causes poverty.


More specifically to the situation in W. Canada, other than blaming the government, you have to remember that profitability for the industry is based on:
1. Throughput (volume)
2. Agri-retail.
3. CN and CP freight rates

1. Most grain companies gross anywhere from $15 – 20 per tonne on all commodities handled through their facilities, plus another $8 – 10 per tonne at the terminal. On top of that they capture revenues from cleaning, drying and upgrading commodities at port through blending. In fact, most companies, will trade grain at little to no profit because they have already grossed upwards of $35/tonne by the time the grain is loaded into a ship at port. This has a very negative impact for the “world price” as other countries discover how cheap the W. Canadian grain companies are selling grain FOB Vancouver or Eastern. Canadian ports. The grain companies do not make more or less money if canola is $5/bu or $10/bu, or if wheat is $3/bu or $5.5/bu, price doesn’t matter to them. Their profitability structure is based on volume, i.e. the more you produce the more they handle, and the more you produce the more inputs you will require.

2. Take a look at one of the 3 Western Canadian grain company’s annual reports from 10 years ago versus today, and see how the emphasis is now on input sales rather than grain marketing. Did you notice that as the grain elevators were being torn down, the Agri-retail locations remained or were expanded?


3. CN and CP rates, although controlled somewhat through government regulation, and less than open bid US rates, they still increase year after year, even though we have gone from 1200 elevators to 300 in just 10-15 years. Where is the efficiency for loading 112 unit car trains? Seems to me the farmer is left holding a $10/tonne trucking bill and the taxpayers are trying to find a way to deal with the disastrous secondary roads in MB, SK and AB.

You cannot blame the grain companies for wanting to make a profit, after all that is what they are in business to do, just as you and me. My only question is why did we throw away the pools and X-Can? I sure could have used some of that equity for my retirement and kept the money in my community, rather than pay for some Torontonian’s $2,000,000 gold watch.

[TOM4CWB]

Jman,

Goodale's perfect plan;

If CN/CP, the banks, the oil co's, the fert. co's, the chem co's, our suppliers, all make record profits... guess what?

Goodale makes huge tax winfall off western grain growers... and we don't even know it. We are the first in the chain.

Interesting thought on how the Liberals get a tax surplus to spend, isn't it!

[wmoebis]

Right on Jman
IMHO this is where we have to start. Reinvent the wheel.
We have let the system that our forefathers set up for us take control. Although some of us didn't agree it was done anyhow. It hasn't worked for us. Maybe it has for the shareholders of the companies.
The co-ops&UFA have just become another retail store, the elevators are only interested in bottom line.
When does everyone get mad enough to do something. After we are all broke and can't afford to.

[RandyH]

Happy New Year All

Tom
I may have been to nice on Goodale. If what you say is true then he needs to be tried for treason of western Canada....
One comment
Why did the RCMP decide to investigate right now and not 45 days from now...IS it because they know the bunch in Ottawa is corrupt and this is there way of telling Canadians to deal with it? I sense that we are going to have to hire a bunch of special prosecutors to process all the criminal acts the Liberals have been engaged in over the last x years...at the same time hopefully they will look at the CWB conection to the liberal party....let see all the liberals hired..5 directors...1 campaign manager...1 liberal party executive....
Polling Paid by CWB for the benefit of the liberal party.(why do farmers need Pollin)and on and on and on

[MBFarmer1]

HI Guys, couldn't help but notice over the course of this thread that the same theme was coming up over and over again. "Look what the government has done to us", "Look what Ralph Goodale has done to us." On nearly all of the issues discussed in this thread farmers were given the chance to change their fate. I am thinking very specifically about how we gave the Crow Rate away for a pittance one time payment. Why do we come out on the short end of many of these negotiations? Why did we give the crow away? Pretty simple really. We as farmers are not prepared to look after our own interests. In Manitoba alone I can, off the top of my head, name ten farm groups (excluding supply mangement)who say they represent me. Our lobby efforts are so underfunded, under researched, and schizophrenic that while we fight amongst ourselves the government does what it wants. Division among the farm lobby is the greatest asset the LIberals have in western Canada. If we are to prosper we need to stop accusing the government of screwing us and learn to sacrifice some of our ideals so we can work together.

[TOM4CWB]

MBFarmer1;

Ralphie G set out some real goals in 94 and 95 for our grain industry... that are supposed to be in action today according to his plan.

He is in charge of Canada today, but what has become of these plans?

Why are we chicken to actually go throgh the list and do an analisis?

If Ralphie G is so proud of his record, integrety etc. what are the fruit/actions/results of his 10 year plan?

Let's dig up the plan from 1993-95... and confront Ralph straight on... put up or let someone else be the leader!

Are the Conservatives up to this Challenge?

[Incognito]

Congrats MBFarmer:

You have nailed what it will take to change status quo. And if you want a model to follow, look no further than the Quebec model. Farm groups fight like hell behind closed doors BUT have a unified position when they leave.

Who is on the government's case about loss of the government CWB guarantees?

No one. IF that were to occur in ON or PQ, hell would freeze over.

Have a better New Year everyone.

Take this one thought forward with you into 2006.

The only one responsible for your well being is you.

Not the Liberals, Conservatives, REG or the CWB.

What are you going to do in 2006 to change the status quo?