Soon Nuthin' but a Hound Dog
Will Verboven - Monday,18 December 2006
It seems that big old dog, the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), has been muzzled by the Conservative government. And as a hound accustomed to ruling the neighbourhood, the CWB doesn't like it one bit. It has even yelped for friendly mongrels like NDP provincial governments, federal Liberals and leftish farm groups. These are desperate times, as a new owner has landed a few good kicks on this mighty grain-yard boss dog.
The CWB and its supporters seem stunned by how quick the Conservative government has moved to end the board's monopoly powers to market export wheat and barley. What must be even more annoying is that the government is using the Canada Wheat Board Act itself to shorten the board's leash. That legislation was designed to enshrine the monopoly powers of the CWB and to protect it from pesky grain growers with the audacity to challenge the confiscation of their wheat and barley for sale into export markets.
Federal Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl used the legislation to prevent CWB spin doctors from unleashing a torrent of subliminal advertising to defend the board's powers. He then appointed a couple of new directors to the board who were attuned to the minister's intentions. These new-attitude pups are bound to disrupt the CWB comfy couch. The government appoints five directors to the organization's board, but their traditional job has been to be trained management lapdogs.
The minister decided to throw more rocks at the CWB doghouse by cutting the voting list used to elect the grower-elected directors to the board. He then put a timeline for changing the board from a monopoly to a voluntary, grower-owned grain-marketing corporation. And on top of that, he set up a task force to create a business transition plan. It's becoming too hard for the CWB to scratch away all these irritating new fleas.
Minister Strahl has shown some courage, considering the bureaucratic opposition he must have faced. A cozy relationship with both senior bureaucrats and friendly Liberal governments has usually guaranteed the CWB's top-dog rule. To be fair, the board has over the years thrown a few bones to the yapping curs who wanted into the yard to retrieve their own grain. But CWB watchdogs have always jealously guarded the keys to the gate. Grain growers have even been thrown in jail for selling their own grain across the border without export permits controlled by the CWB.
In its entire existence, the CWB has never faced such a challenge. It's left the board and its friends howling in desperation. Political pals in the Opposition have tried to defend the CWB at committee meetings and with political hijinks in Parliament. That resulted in the ludicrous sight of eastern Liberals and Quebec Blocistes defending an institution that uses its monopoly powers only on Prairie-grown grain. Clearly those self-righteous defenders of monopoly would revolt if the CWB powers ever were extended to Ontario and Quebec.
CWB defenders insist that the future of the institution must be decided by a democratic vote of grain growers. That might have some validity, had the CWB been created by a growers referendum--but it was not. The federal government imperiously decreed the CWB monopoly in 1943. To defuse the referendum issue (and divide and conquer), the federal minister announced that he would hold a plebiscite only on barley, but not wheat. Outfoxed, the NDP governments of Manitoba and Saskatchewan sniffed that they would hold their own referendum--a futile exercise having no bearing on federal legislation.
Some describe the CWB issue as the first step in the dismantling of marketing boards across Canada. Well, not quite. The CWB is a very different breed that operates regionally under a federal mandate. Poultry and dairy marketing boards operate nationally under joint provincial mandates, and they were created by producer referendums.
The CWB debate has always been a dog's breakfast of ideology, control, freedom, marketing, trade policy and other political scraps. After all this time, perhaps this mangy cur needs to be cut loose to fend for itself. The CWB has had 80 years to learn how to survive in the marketplace, so it shouldn't need a fence anymore.
Will Verboven - Monday,18 December 2006
It seems that big old dog, the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), has been muzzled by the Conservative government. And as a hound accustomed to ruling the neighbourhood, the CWB doesn't like it one bit. It has even yelped for friendly mongrels like NDP provincial governments, federal Liberals and leftish farm groups. These are desperate times, as a new owner has landed a few good kicks on this mighty grain-yard boss dog.
The CWB and its supporters seem stunned by how quick the Conservative government has moved to end the board's monopoly powers to market export wheat and barley. What must be even more annoying is that the government is using the Canada Wheat Board Act itself to shorten the board's leash. That legislation was designed to enshrine the monopoly powers of the CWB and to protect it from pesky grain growers with the audacity to challenge the confiscation of their wheat and barley for sale into export markets.
Federal Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl used the legislation to prevent CWB spin doctors from unleashing a torrent of subliminal advertising to defend the board's powers. He then appointed a couple of new directors to the board who were attuned to the minister's intentions. These new-attitude pups are bound to disrupt the CWB comfy couch. The government appoints five directors to the organization's board, but their traditional job has been to be trained management lapdogs.
The minister decided to throw more rocks at the CWB doghouse by cutting the voting list used to elect the grower-elected directors to the board. He then put a timeline for changing the board from a monopoly to a voluntary, grower-owned grain-marketing corporation. And on top of that, he set up a task force to create a business transition plan. It's becoming too hard for the CWB to scratch away all these irritating new fleas.
Minister Strahl has shown some courage, considering the bureaucratic opposition he must have faced. A cozy relationship with both senior bureaucrats and friendly Liberal governments has usually guaranteed the CWB's top-dog rule. To be fair, the board has over the years thrown a few bones to the yapping curs who wanted into the yard to retrieve their own grain. But CWB watchdogs have always jealously guarded the keys to the gate. Grain growers have even been thrown in jail for selling their own grain across the border without export permits controlled by the CWB.
In its entire existence, the CWB has never faced such a challenge. It's left the board and its friends howling in desperation. Political pals in the Opposition have tried to defend the CWB at committee meetings and with political hijinks in Parliament. That resulted in the ludicrous sight of eastern Liberals and Quebec Blocistes defending an institution that uses its monopoly powers only on Prairie-grown grain. Clearly those self-righteous defenders of monopoly would revolt if the CWB powers ever were extended to Ontario and Quebec.
CWB defenders insist that the future of the institution must be decided by a democratic vote of grain growers. That might have some validity, had the CWB been created by a growers referendum--but it was not. The federal government imperiously decreed the CWB monopoly in 1943. To defuse the referendum issue (and divide and conquer), the federal minister announced that he would hold a plebiscite only on barley, but not wheat. Outfoxed, the NDP governments of Manitoba and Saskatchewan sniffed that they would hold their own referendum--a futile exercise having no bearing on federal legislation.
Some describe the CWB issue as the first step in the dismantling of marketing boards across Canada. Well, not quite. The CWB is a very different breed that operates regionally under a federal mandate. Poultry and dairy marketing boards operate nationally under joint provincial mandates, and they were created by producer referendums.
The CWB debate has always been a dog's breakfast of ideology, control, freedom, marketing, trade policy and other political scraps. After all this time, perhaps this mangy cur needs to be cut loose to fend for itself. The CWB has had 80 years to learn how to survive in the marketplace, so it shouldn't need a fence anymore.
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