CWB Elections

[craig]

There were numerous changes purposed to the CWB elections yet it seems none have been implemented. Allowing interested parties the right to vote is a shame. It's like saying American's who do business in Canada should have the right to vote in Canadian elections. No one knows the percentage of so called interested parties who make up the voters list. So if farmer's were supposely suppose to vote on the future of the board where would you draw a voter's list from. When I retire from active farming I should be willing to give up my right to vote on issues effecting those still farming. Till we see these changes to the CWB election act please don't tell me the results are representative of farmer's views.

[AdamSmith]

In another thread, I was asked a couple of times to run in this years, cwb director elections. I only think it’s proper that I respond.

It’s not just good enough to desire change or to be able to clearly articulate your positions which I believe both those things do apply to me. One must also be willing to commit a huge amount of time and energy to this. Quite simply I’m not. I enjoy my life just the way it is right now, way too much at this point in time to even consider changing priorities. All I really desire is to be free to sell my wheat to who ever I please, when ever I please, where ever I please. This sentiment accounts for 60% of my decision to not run.

The other 40% is the following. The cwb director elections have somehow become de-facto plebiscites on the issue of the monopoly, they are not. Director elections should be about putting in qualified directors to oversee the cwb operations. I’m sure Agstar77 and the other directors believe that is what happens now but it isn’t. Since 1999 the director elections have been about only one thing, the single desk. The cwb, the media, farmers and supporting governments have all used election results to make a case for overwhelming support for the cwb. I was an election scruteneer (sp?) twice I saw the vote tallies and what infuriated me then and even still today was that many directors were elected with a voter turnout of 40% and 51% of the vote or 54% of the vote the other 49% or 46% went to dual market candidates. Yet these numbers which were clearly not an indication of overwhelming support but an indication of an intense divide were spun as overwhelming support for the status quo. The media latched on to this with the eager help from the cwb communications dept. Many irregularities were identified mainly the eligibility of non farmers to vote but nothing has been done to correct this. I commented then that, if you were to sit down at a poker table with the full knowledge that the game will be played with a marked deck, and you agree to play anyway, you deserve to be cleaned out.

The deck is still marked and I refuse to play.

The CWB directors, the NDP, Wayne Easter and the NFU and their media mouth pieces are having fits over the non-democratic way the conservatives are handling the cwb file. Well all those above are nothing more than hypocrites when it comes to the issue of democracy. The CWB has had five years to repair the election process and clean up the voters list and have refused, because it suits their purposes to keep it the same as before. Ralph Goodale ignored his own marketing panel, Justice Estey, and Kroeger. All these were open commissions for all to participate in, but the cwb didn’t like the findings or the recommendations so he ignored all of it and just went out and unilaterally decided to do what the cwb wanted. So, the cwber’s record on democracy is pathetic. Democracy at gun point is more like it. Remember Andy McMechan and the handcuffs and shackles, don’t think that the officers who escorted him to and from jail weren’t armed.

And finally I don’t believe how I choose to sell my crop should be up for public debate or approval and for me to participate in the cwb elections is like submitting to that notion. The same principle applies to a plebiscite.

[GrainVac]

I was in the elevator the other day doing some business when in walked in a man who had to be at least 80 years old, possibly older. He was giving the manager a hard time about not getting a CWB permit book application. The manager explained that the CWB was likely cleaning up their producer list and that he was likely dropped off for not having any CWB deliveries in the last 2 years. The producer demanded he get a permit book. The manager asked if he had any grain to market this year and he said no. The manager said he didn't need a permit book then. The old guy said he had to have one in case there were "government payments". The manager asked him if he had a CAIS account, he replied no. So the manager told him he definately did not need a permit book, that any government assistance would be through CAIS or at least using CAIS numbers etc..The guy was pissed and said he going to complain to the CWB about him as an "agent". I asked the manager how often that happens and he said "EVERY day". This guy is going to get a vote over someone who only grows barley and hay because he made the conscious decision not to grow CWB controlled crops? How can a guy unplugged from agriculture for years let a lone have a say but have as big of a say as the average AB farmer of 3000 acres?

[charliep]

Likely far enough down so no one will pay attention/I won't get in too much trouble but why didn't the Conservative government act on the recommendations? Would it have required an ammendment to the CWB Act?

[craig]

Good question Charlie. I think we would all feel more comfortable if we had some faith in the voters list. Brings up an interesting point. Permit books over the years meant you were a farmer at least in the governments eyes and were entitled to some benefits, payments, farm fuel allowance. How many retired farmers maintain a permit book for those reasons.

[TOM4CWB]

Craig;

The right to have a permit book is like the right to breathe air... for many older folks!

I wouldn't touch that one with a ten mile long pole.

Minister Strahl did the best he could do IMHO today... by not instantly sending ballots to those who haven't sold to the CWB in the last two years but who still have permit books. Even the CWB went along with this... because it was the right thing to do.

As soon as we have market choice... THEN the new COrp... that will be farmer grain grower owned... should decide themselves how to govern itself!