Charlie,
I came back across this....
The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that, "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount."
However, in big business (WGEA) and government (CWB & CGC), more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:
1. Buying a stronger whip;
2. Changing riders;
3. Appointing a committee to study the horse;
4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride horses;
5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included;
6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired;
7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse;
8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed;
9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance;
10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance;
11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses;
12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses; and of course...
13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.
We have the CGC review going on right now. Does anyone care about grain growers being profitable?
The point is:
How do we breath life back into the WESTERN CGC and CWB... in a manner that brings true positive value to western Canadian Grain Agriculture?
1. Application across Canada equally.
I would submit that the CWB, and CGC (there is the Western and Eastern Grades, and Divisions); shouldn't both have their Acts ammended to apply equally across all of Canada?
I believe they should.
Value Added processing and innovative marketing initiatives will be and are key to profitability in the Grains and Oilseeds sectors in Eastern Canada.
Why should the "designated area" be any different?
It shouldn't. It doesn't matter if our families farm is in Creston B.C., the Maritimes, or Alberta; we need equal opportunities to create innovative marketing solutions... the CGC and CWB both kill these opportuinities especially in Alberta... but not in Creston B.C. or the Maritimes.
2. Simplification of Red Tape.
Did you know that all the words in the CWB Act have the meaning and interpretation given them in the Canada Grain Act?
{(CWB Act INTERPRETATION)
Definitions 2. (2)
Words and expressions
(2) Unless it is otherwise provided in this Act, words and expressions used in
this Act have the same meaning as in the Canada Grain Act, except that where in
any definition of any such word or expression contained in that Act the word
"elevator" is used, it has the meaning given to it under subsection (1)."}
Even the word "Elevator" has the same meaning in both statutes!
How Absurd.
This little scheme was meant to keep the CWB operating within the "trade and commerce" provisions of the Canadian Constitution... and give it the monopoly over "designated area" CGC graded grain... yet ungraded grain is not constitutionally in CGC authority... and this allowed property rights of western graingrowers to be respected until Ralph Goodale took them away. We need them back.
Today CGC Management spends far too much time protecting the CWB "single desk" at the cost of bad management of other grains and oilseeds. To prove the CWB system with "single desk" is the saviour of the "designated area"
Sick.
3. The CWB and CGC contain huge authority over the daily lives of western Canadian grain growers.
With this comes government responsibility to maintain western Canadian grain growers income levels.
Yet typically these statutes have been applied in a manner that disadvantages "designated area" western grain growers... and passes this advantage on to supply management, livestock, and grain growers outside the "designated area". I would appreciate the opportunity to earn my families income from a transparent marketplace... instead of from government hand downs.
4. What I do with the grain I grow; is an issue consitutionally of private and civil property rights... and should not be an issue to be decided by my grain growing neighbours who want to prevent my farm and family from prospering. The CGC and CWB both have become dead horses for many innovative grain growers in the "designated area" of Canada.
To have the Western Grain Elevator Association argue against the Ritz CWB Bill shows the true nature of what the grain industry inside the "designated area" in many ways... bankrupt of innovation and hiding behind Red Tape.
Please; why can't we change this?
We would rather whine and put our hand out... than prosper and change things?
Not the kind of Ag I want for my son or grandson!
I came back across this....
The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that, "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount."
However, in big business (WGEA) and government (CWB & CGC), more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:
1. Buying a stronger whip;
2. Changing riders;
3. Appointing a committee to study the horse;
4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride horses;
5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included;
6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired;
7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse;
8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed;
9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance;
10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance;
11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses;
12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses; and of course...
13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.
We have the CGC review going on right now. Does anyone care about grain growers being profitable?
The point is:
How do we breath life back into the WESTERN CGC and CWB... in a manner that brings true positive value to western Canadian Grain Agriculture?
1. Application across Canada equally.
I would submit that the CWB, and CGC (there is the Western and Eastern Grades, and Divisions); shouldn't both have their Acts ammended to apply equally across all of Canada?
I believe they should.
Value Added processing and innovative marketing initiatives will be and are key to profitability in the Grains and Oilseeds sectors in Eastern Canada.
Why should the "designated area" be any different?
It shouldn't. It doesn't matter if our families farm is in Creston B.C., the Maritimes, or Alberta; we need equal opportunities to create innovative marketing solutions... the CGC and CWB both kill these opportuinities especially in Alberta... but not in Creston B.C. or the Maritimes.
2. Simplification of Red Tape.
Did you know that all the words in the CWB Act have the meaning and interpretation given them in the Canada Grain Act?
{(CWB Act INTERPRETATION)
Definitions 2. (2)
Words and expressions
(2) Unless it is otherwise provided in this Act, words and expressions used in
this Act have the same meaning as in the Canada Grain Act, except that where in
any definition of any such word or expression contained in that Act the word
"elevator" is used, it has the meaning given to it under subsection (1)."}
Even the word "Elevator" has the same meaning in both statutes!
How Absurd.
This little scheme was meant to keep the CWB operating within the "trade and commerce" provisions of the Canadian Constitution... and give it the monopoly over "designated area" CGC graded grain... yet ungraded grain is not constitutionally in CGC authority... and this allowed property rights of western graingrowers to be respected until Ralph Goodale took them away. We need them back.
Today CGC Management spends far too much time protecting the CWB "single desk" at the cost of bad management of other grains and oilseeds. To prove the CWB system with "single desk" is the saviour of the "designated area"
Sick.
3. The CWB and CGC contain huge authority over the daily lives of western Canadian grain growers.
With this comes government responsibility to maintain western Canadian grain growers income levels.
Yet typically these statutes have been applied in a manner that disadvantages "designated area" western grain growers... and passes this advantage on to supply management, livestock, and grain growers outside the "designated area". I would appreciate the opportunity to earn my families income from a transparent marketplace... instead of from government hand downs.
4. What I do with the grain I grow; is an issue consitutionally of private and civil property rights... and should not be an issue to be decided by my grain growing neighbours who want to prevent my farm and family from prospering. The CGC and CWB both have become dead horses for many innovative grain growers in the "designated area" of Canada.
To have the Western Grain Elevator Association argue against the Ritz CWB Bill shows the true nature of what the grain industry inside the "designated area" in many ways... bankrupt of innovation and hiding behind Red Tape.
Please; why can't we change this?
We would rather whine and put our hand out... than prosper and change things?
Not the kind of Ag I want for my son or grandson!