Concurrence in Committee Reports

[parsley]

Did anyone watch the Parliamentary committee Reports on CWB on CPAC this week?


1. Wayne Easter listed all the options farmers have in selling to the Board. How dumb does this Easterner think we are? He listed all these fancy handles the CWB uses to describe CWB marketing options, but someone has to give Easter a call and tell him:

EVERY ONE OF THEM IS ANOTHER FANCY TERM FOR SELLING TO THE WHEAT BOARD!!

Easter actually had the nerve to say that if we got an open market, we "wouldn't have marketing options we have now"

Huh? Is he thinking in squares?

If DA farmers get marketing choice, we get UNLIMITED marketing choices.

Parslet

[Fransisco]

It's like the owner of the only restaurant in town saying we don't need another one because he just added a couple of appetizers and a new dessert to the menu.

[parsley]

Okay, David Anderson was on and pounded home the three options available to farmers during the barley vote.
1
2
3
Is there anyone in Canada who can't call them out in their sleep?

And it follows if the public knows what the questions are, the CWB becomes ...well...unbelievable.

The more questions, the better farmers can define what they favor.

One thing Anderson didn't have time to address is this Algerian squatbasht.

The CWB are trying to look victimized, and instead they are coming across as dumb, because they did the translating.

I'll refer you to a young farmer's website:
http://designatedarea.blogspot.com/2007/02/can-anyone-read-french.html

where he says the following:

QUOTE "Can anyone read French?


Last Thursday, I attended a breakfast seminar put on by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy that featured John De Pape, who spoke about the CWB and its role in marketing barley.

It was a very informative and very reasoned analysis. The Frontier Centre usually puts audio or video of these things online, so as soon as it gets put up, I'll post a link and you can see it for yourselves.

At the breakfast, I sat at the same table as Gord Kurbis, Director of Corporate Policy with the CWB.

He disputed the now somewhat infamous news story out of Algeria, quoting an Algerian official who said that the CWB was selling wheat to the Algerian state trading agency at a discount of tens of dollars per tonne.

Mr. Kurbis said that the English translation that made its way to Canada was inaccurate. So, I dug up the Algerian article, if you are inclined to read the French. The key quote comes two-thirds of way into the first paragraph:

"Les prix de vente à l'Algérie de 400 000 à 500 000 tonnes de blé annuellement sont bien étudiés puisque ce sont des prix préférentiels. Ces derniers font gagner à l'Algérie plusieurs dizaines de dollars sur la tonne achetée."

My own French skills being what they are, I plugged the quote into an online translator.

Intrigued by this, I double checked it with a friend who speaks fluent French. Translation: It is well known that the sale prices to Algeria on 400,000 to 500,000 tonnes of wheat annually are preferential prices. They save Algeria tens of dollars per purchased tonne.

I have a difficult time understanding how there could be any confusion about the meaning.

I just don't know why some farmers continue to fall for the CWB party line. The CWB claims that it can price discriminate, charging different prices to different markets to maximize returns.

I don't understand where undercutting our competitors by tens of dollars per tonne qualifies as maximizing returns.

UPDATE: (Feb 12, 2007) Check out this exchange between the CWB and US Wheat Associates for more info on translation-gate, or whatever we might call this misunderstanding. (Scroll down to item number three.) UNQUOTE

Parsley

[parsley]

Then Ted Menzies from Alberta spoke, and he put his farmer hat on and was absolutely clear, and relevant, and informed.

I keep telling you on Agri-ville that farmers are capable, and Ted Menzies surely is.

Listen to the clip if you can.

Parsley

[parsley]

If your listened to MP Pat Martin from Manitoba, you had to be embarrassed.

He kept calling it the Canada Wheat Board, which tips you off first thing that he doesn't know his file.

Of course,his priority was to praise CWB staff to high heaven, jobs jobs jobs for Winnipeg. Delicious voters.


Then he turned his eye to the Conservatives, and it warnt purty!

If you want a lesson on Extremism 400, Martin's cliche's were just dumb: "not tolerate this interference"(what's he going to do, punch outfarmers?, then there was "smash fascism" (now there's showing MP training), "Il Dulce", "like Zahir or another Banana Republic"(smooth). His ranting would apply to probably half the farmers in the Designated Area farmers who do not agree with his vision of a single-single desk, but that wouldn't stop his frothing.

All in all, you had to laugh, and I doubt if that was his object.

Parsley

[winwin]

Interesting that a misunderstanding about french/english translation comes up here.It was also pivotal in the Sawatsky case when he was acquitted for failing to have acwb export license.

Coincidence?I dont know.Deanna allen claims to be bilingual--and shes confusing.