Frontier Center and CWB elections

[GrainBeetle]

I Found the below attachment on the Winnipeg Free Press website, Saturday Nov 15 edition, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Rolf Penner who is running in Manitoba for a CWB Director position is a frontier policy fellow. It appears he too wants to turn Manitoba into Ireland. I imagine if he lived in Iceland, he would have been very proud of the deregulated banking system that country adopted several years ago. Look at them now.. complete disaster.

Even Steve Harper was bragging to George Bush this wknd that regulation saved the banks in Canada.



WFP Nov 15, 2008:

So much for private sector

In Celtic tiger caged (Nov. 12), columnist Tom Ford offers his mea culpa for having touted Ireland as a lodestone for industries anxious to take advantage of its "European Union membership, low taxes, and big corporate subsidies," but which became a tombstone recently "when Ireland became the first Eurozone country to officially enter recession."

The Frontier Centre has also been writing of Ireland's exemplary free-enterprise economy. Manitobans should remember that the next time a Frontier Centre "fellow" tells us we could be as rich as Ireland if we just sell Manitoba Hydro, dump medicare, scrap the Canadian Wheat Board and turn our economy over to a low-taxed and highly subsidized private sector.

HERB SCHULZ

Winnipeg

[cropduster]

Turn the lights on Herb!Reach around behind you using BOTH hands.........if you`re lucky you WILL find your ass!Grainbeetle will be there with paper!

[redbaron]

It might be worth noting who Mr. Schultz may be. There was a Herb Schultz who was the former special assistant to Premier Ed Schreyer (Manitoba) from 1971 to 1977. Might explain the view point.

[liberty]

And what of the semi-socialist European nations like France? They are likely to officially enter a recession very soon, despite the fact that both nations have a high degree of government ownership and regulation of the economy, along with unsustainable privileges for unionized workers.

What is noteworthy about France is that its unemployment rate has hovered around the 10 percent range for many years as a result of their government's penchant for central planning, in contrast to a much lower rate in Ireland.

About all you can say about the socialist workers' paradise of France is that when they enter a recession, no Frenchman is likely to notice since they've been in one for so long.

[Jay-mo]

We all know what happens if the CWB gets tossed......that's right, the beloved CBC is next!

[liberty]

A correction to my previous post:

And what of the semi-socialist European nations like France? They are likely to officially enter a recession very soon, despite the fact that France has a high degree of government ownership and regulation of the economy, along with unsustainable privileges for unionized workers.

[liberty]

Here's a quote from Bill Bonner of the Daily Reckoning regarding the supposed "deregulation" of the economy under George Bush:

"… 36% of GDP was spent by government…and more than half of all eligible voters depended for their livelihoods - in whole or part - on government checks

…federally-chartered mortgage lenders - Fannie and Freddie - helped stimulate a huge bubble in the housing market

…the US government's central bank - the Federal Reserve - led by Mr. Bush's appointee, Alan Greenspan, practically single-handedly caused a huge bubble in finance, credit, speculation and consumer spending

…when the bubble inevitably burst, Mr. Bush's own Treasury Secretary (recently one of the Wall Street bankers who had most benefited from the financial bubble) rushed in to use government money (aka taxpayers' money) to buy up Wall Street's mistakes…

…then, the feds partially nationalized the nations leading banks…

…and further lowered the cost of credit, in order to try to blow the bubble up again…

…and now, the United States, along with the world's other leading governments, is pledging to give the world what it least needs - more regulation!"

And the result of all this regulation and taxation, if allowed to proceed far enough, will be to turn a recession into a depression. I can't wait.

[RolfPenner]

Grainbeetle, for the record I resigned from my position at the Frontier Centre last December.

Also, my primary reason for running in the CWB director elections is that I would like it to be voluntary. My secondary purpose is to improve CWB performance. Accomplishing the first will lead to accomplishing the second.

I am not running in the CWB elections so as to try and privatize Manitoba Hydro, dump medicate, lower tax's, re-write banking regulations or turn Manitoba into Ireland (I'm not particularly fond of Guinness truth be told). I'm pretty sure all of those things are outside of the CWB's mandate. But then again like most farmers, I've never been allowed to look at the books.

I know things can get a little heated when we talk about the single desk but please don't put words in my mouth that did not come from me. I have said many things recently and in the past about the monopoly with regards to its performance and how it treats farmers property. You can find a lot of it at my CWB election blog

http://rolfpennerforcwb.com/

If you want to take a run at me, at my logic, my reasoning, or the facts I present that's fine. But I'd appreciate it if we could keep the discussion on what the election is actually about, the Wheat Board.

[cottonpicken]

Thought i was the only one that followed bill bonner.

[cottonpicken]

Rolf,or anyone what are your views on the anti-capitalistic moves the current conservative government is doing?

[GrainBeetle]

So Rolf, Harper supports a regulated banking industry and he supports an over-regulated, idiotic supply management system, yet he thinks an unregulated grain market is the best approach. Why the contradiction?

As you have asked me in the past, what is so unique about wheat?

As a director of the CWB, can you guarantee me that once the CWB is completely voluntary, that I will have access to the exact same US spot price as the Americans (less trucking freight only)? Actually our rail freights to the West Coast are often cheaper than than the US, due to REGULATION, so I should expect even higher prices than ND and MT farmers. Can you guarantee this will happen? If not why not?

[GrainBeetle]

Rolf: Since you are running in the CWB elections and introduced yourself on this site, I would like to ask you a few more questions.

1.Why did you resign from the Frontier Centre?

2. You often accuse the CWB of ALWAYS underperforming and achieving prices less than what an open market can achieve, yet you claim the CWB will still be around in an open market as an option available to farmers who will still support the CWB. Based on your logic there are farmers out there who will continue to contract their grain to the CWB even though the open market will always be higher? I dont understand how this is possible? If Cargill offers me $7.50 for my wheat and the CWB offers me $7.45 on that day, guess where my wheat is going, and guess where the CWB will be in one year, and guess what will happen to Cargill's bids when the CWB is gone in one year.

3. Should Rail freight rates continue to me regulated? Please explain.

4. Should Canada privatize medicare?

5. Should Manitoba sell Manitoba Hydro? Why or why not?

6. Do you support Manitoba Autopac or should auto insurance be privatized?

7. You often use Manitoba Pork Marketing Board as a good example of how the CWB can operate in a dual market? Please explain how Manitoba Pork operates, who do they sell direct to domestically and internationally, and how is this a parallel comparison to the CWB and international wheat trade.

[RolfPenner]

It's been a long day but I'll take a crack at some of these questions.

I would prefer it if the Harper government would take a more free market approach to things. As to why they haven't or why they might not I am not a conservative strategist nor a mind reader so I'll have to pass on those questions. If one is looking into contradictions I suppose it could also be asked why haven't they nationalised everything as well and probably come up with the same answer.

I resigned from the Frontier Centre because after five years I thought it was time for something different. It was a part time gig for me and I enjoyed it while I was there, but I have a very full life and if I wanted to try something new, like being a Wheat Board director, I knew I'd have to let something go. A long time ago I was also a producer delegate for the Manitoba Pork Council. I stopped doing that for the same reason.

Yes, I believe the CWB has been under performing and yes I believe that it can survive in an open market. But to do so it will have to be competitive. I have never claimed otherwise. Like you say if its not competitive why would you want to do business with it.

Yes, Manitoba Pork Marketing is an example I like to use. Because it is a former monopoly that is able to compete with other players in an open market and continues to provide value for the farmers who use it. But that is only one part of the story. After the monopoly was ended we saw a dramatic rise in the production of hogs in our province. As the following chart clearly shows.
http://rolfpennerforcwb.com/2008/11/06/manitoba-hog-production-1960-2006/

We also saw the same thing in Ontario with regards to wheat. See the chart here.
http://rolfpennerforcwb.com/2008/11/06/western-vs-eastern-wheat-acreage/

I think that it is very tough to make the argument that hog and wheat production increased in these post monopoly time frames and places because farmers made less money. I argue the opposite, that it is because they made more.

I believe we will see the same kind of results on the prairies with the crops that are now under the single desk.