Conservative Ag policy?

[cowman]

Two things I like. Scrap CAIS and take away the CWB single desk monopoly? I bet the boys over at the wheat board are sweating right now?
But what a novel concept...you can actually sell your product to who ever you desire! Sure is a good thing that someone in Canada is finally moving us up to speed with the Russians who tossed the Commies out over 12 years ago?
Hopefully whatever welfare scheme replaces CAIS will be simpler and won't require the army of public servants for CAIS? I imagine all the accountants are wondering if the gravy train might come to an end?
You know if Harper gets rid of all these "state businesses" like CWB, CAIS, gun registry...why just think of the money it might free up? We might be even be able to fix a few roads and equip our soldiers with some decent equipment!

[ivbinconned]

A bumper crop of patronage
Cyril Doll - Monday,23 January 2006
Western Standard

Some Western Canadian grain growers loathe the Canadian Wheat Board--the Crown monopoly that forces Prairie farmers to sell grain to Ottawa. Some love it. But the fact that the CWB has been using sales revenue to hand out contracts to friends of Prime Minister Paul Martin and other Liberals might give every grain grower something to jeer about.

David Herle, chairman of the federal Liberal election campaign, may be an Ottawa PR consultant, but evidently he's an expert on the attitudes of western agriculture producers. For the past nine years, Herle has been in charge of drafting the questionnaire for the CWB's annual producer survey and analyzing its results. The survey gauges farmers' opinions of their monopolistic master. Several farmers contacted for this story say the results are seldom made public. "These surveys, like the one that says 75 per cent of farmers support [the wheat board], they don't prove it," says one Yorkton, Sask.-area farmer. In other words, no one outside the government has much of an idea what Herle's doing with the data that he's paid to analyze. Nor do farmers know how much of their grain sales are paying for the service, since the CWB won't disclose the size of the contract.

Then again, Herle--who worked with the future PM in the eighties at the Martin-owned Canada Steamship Lines--is, according to a newspaper report, the man the prime minister "trusts the most." Maybe farmers should, too. As a consultant, Herle already gets to sit in on confidential CWB directors' meetings. Even member farmers aren't entrusted with that kind of access.

The board denies that the secret contract is another connected Grit jowl-deep in the public trough. "We employ him not for his connections to the Liberal party," says Deanna Allen, the CWB's vice-president of farmer relations and public affairs. "We employ him to do exactly what I said: questionnaire design and election analysis and presentation of the results."

But there's no reason to believe the Winnipeg-based marketer is any less open to Liberal shenanigans than other Crown corporations, says David Anderson, Opposition wheat board critic. Cabinet- appointed CEOs at both the Canadian Mint and Canada Post have resigned in recent years after they were found abusing public dollars. Anderson also notes that the CWB pays Avis Gray as an adviser. Gray is the former campaign manager of Reg Alcock, the minister in charge of the wheat board file. "And now, we see the CWB hiring a lobby firm, Global Public Affairs, chock full of former employees from the Prime Minister's Office and various Liberal ministerial offices," adds Anderson. For every western farmer who can't wait to be rid of the wheat board, it seems there's a well-connected Liberal anxious to join it.

[farmers_son]

I think you have identified the two main planks of the Conservative ag policy. I will not lower the standards of this forum by discussing CWB so will leave the comment about selling wheat untouched.

Regarding the accountants and CWB being concerned about their future: This is shaping up to be an interesting election. I find it very interesting that the Liberals have been so low key. I believe I have seen one Liberal ad on TV and there is only a little over two weeks before the election. It appears to me that the Liberal strategy is to get people believing the Conservatives have a chance to form the next government. Then the issue changes away from Liberal scandals to do you really want a Conservative/Bloc government and what that would mean for Canada. Obviously the people of Alberta and Saskatchewan will vote Conservative but the real vote battle is in Ontario and the swing ridings throughout the rest of Canada.

I found the most interesting Conservative policy, although not an ag policy, is to have Quebec represent itself internationally, supporting one of the Bloc’s platforms. Although the Conservatives slogan in English Canada is Stand Up for Canada, you do not hear them saying that in Quebec where the Conservatives are talking a different story. If you recall the Liberal ad scandal was about increasing the Canadian image before the vote on sovereignty. Well it is for sure the Conservatives would not do that. If the Conservatives/Bloc form the next government it opens the real specter of Quebec separation. That is what this election is really about, and I know there are those in Alberta that think that is OK with them. But make no mistake about it, this election is about the future of Quebec in Canada, not about the CWB or gay marriage or even sponsorship scandals. It will be up to Canadian voters to decide who will really stand up for Canada.

[almoy]

Conservative fram policy = Scrap the Wheat Board, do away with all existing farm policys. They claim they have their own farm policy, they just won't reveal what it is. I'm afraid it might just be "sink or swim suckers!!"

[food4u]

I do not belong to any political. I think the conservatives learned in the last election to keep your cards very close to your chest or the Liberals will steal. Remember how Romanow got elected in Sask. in "91". Promise nothing until you see the books.

[ivbinconned]

Seems to me that we have been under a "sink-or-swim" policy for the past 12 years!

If Quebec leaves...does that mean Alberta will not have to subsidize Quebec grain growers anymore with those $120 per acre subsidies??

[cowman]

farmers son: I suspect you are reading the Liberal election stratedgy well? I think that is probably the plan.
It won't sell in Quebec but then I think Martin has pretty well written Quebec off anyway and will be appealing to the Ontario voter?
Now that may win him the election...but it might lose him the country?
If the Conservatives squeak in and have to rely on BLOC support it could be a good thing(if you want to see Canada survive)? If the two parties can decentralize this country...is that bad? Give the provinces back the rights and responsibilities they were meant to have?
Why is it that Ottawa and Toronto should decide how the people in the regions should live? Why do we need a "made in Toronto" gun law? Why can't the people of any region decide how they want to deliver health care, education, social programs, questions on morality and justice? There is more to Canada than Toronto/Ottawa and one size does not fit all? We obviously look at things a different way out here than people do in Toronto! Thats just how it is.
Is Martin going to whip those Frenchmen into shape? You know that isn't going to happen.

[farmers_son]

I don’t know about the Liberals writing off Quebec. The thought of a Conservative government is enough to make quite a few Quebecois hold their noses and vote Liberal. Although if they believe the Bloc could hold the balance of power in a minority Conservative government then that could be interesting too. The Quebecois vote with their heads when Albertans vote with their hearts. Voting with your head will get you a lot more from government. Quebec may be watching the NDP too and deciding whether the Bloc or the NDP will hold the balance of power. It is for sure one or the other will in what is certain to be another minority government situation.

The leaders debate on TV this Monday will have to be a turning point for the Liberals. It will be very interesting.

As long as there has been a Canada there has been a debate about the strength of the country versus the strength of the provinces. Obviously that debate is going to continue for years to come. You ask “Why is it that Ottawa and Toronto should decide how the people in the regions should live”. Well if the Bloc holds the balance of power in a minority Conservative government then Quebec City and Montreal will decide how the people in the regions should live.

[cowman]

Actually they say the Conservative parties fortunes are on the rise in Quebec? Maybe not enough to get any seats but might be enough to split the federalist vote and let a few BLOC candidates sneak up the middle?
I would suggest that when Mario Dumont and Jean Charest both react very favorably to Stephen Harpers message that something is happening?
Lets face it Harper is offering Quebec something different than Martins status quo? Martin sure sounds a lot more like Chretien everyday in regards to Quebec?
If the BLOC holds the balance of power will they be dictating to the rest of Canada? Aren't a lot of the things they expouse the same things we want? They want control over their own destiny in many areas...don't we too? Look at it this way: Quebec gets some right...we all get that right! So if Quebec decides they want to decide how they deliver health care...then so do we? The biggest joke in Canada is the Liberal party making a big fuss everytime Ralph Klein makes a squeak about healthcare...while Quebec is light years ahead of Alberta in privatizing healthcare? On top of that the supreme court has ruled in Quebecs favor...so how can Martin stop it? The fact is he can't and he shouldn't.
Bottom line: Quebec wants to be free to operate their province how they see fit. Every other province should desire the same thing if they believe in freedom? I think Alberta definitely sees things this way? The western Conservatives and Quebec can work together to achieve a better deal for themselves in confederation...or we can continue down the road we are on...which leads to the breakup of this country?

[FarmRanger]

For years we've had private clinics right across the country funded with government dollars. They're called abortion clinics. Why aren't Jack Layton and Paul Martin making a big stink about these? Hypocrites.

[FarmRanger]

If nothing else gets done in a Conservative minority government other than allowing a proper investigation, and subsequent prosecution of all the corruption in the previous Liberal government, it will be the most worthwhile in the history of the country. I can’t see any opposition parties, except the Liberals of course, voting against rooting out, and prosecuting corruption.

F_s said “if the Bloc holds the balance of power in a minority Conservative government then Quebec City and Montreal will decide how the people in the regions should live.”
Only if Harper has the ethics of a Liberal. I’d rather give him the chance to prove otherwise, we already know who Liberals sell out to, and who pays the tab.
Is this the next Liberal strategy? Vote Bloc and Harper or Liberal? Nope, not biting.

“Albertans vote with their hearts and not their heads”!! So we are supposed to vote for criminals because if we do they might give back some of the money they stole from us?
Sorry, my head says vote anything but Liberal, and see thieves prosecuted instead.

“Quebecors holding their noses and voting Liberal” Methinks there will be a lot more federalist Quebec Liberals will be holding their noses and voting Conservative than the other way around. Evidence of this is bearing out in the fact that Conservatives have been rising in the polls in Quebec directly at the expense of the Liberals.

[FarmRanger]

If people are gullible enough to vote for the NDP because they like the nanny state concept, then they will hold the balance of power. Layton is hammering on Harper this weekend, so he must hope he can get some of the conservative vote.
I think we will be at the polls again in a year or a year and a half, and that is not a good thing for this country.
One good think that I see happening is that more people are planning on voting than in the past election.

[cowman]

The one thing I would hope Harper doesn't do if he gets elected is let up on the investigations? If he only has a short time in office it would be helpful if he ferreted out all the thieves and brought them to justice?
Does anyone really doubt that Paul Martin and Jean Chretien don't deserve to go to jail? I realize they have probably insulated themselves fairly well but you start sending the peons to jail and sooner or later someone is going to spill the beans? Cut some deals with the little fish and they just may give up the big fish, sort of thing?
I wonder if the Liberals are getting the paper shredders up to speed right now?

[ivbinconned]

The Romano administration did just that in Sask. They prosecuted many of Divine"s MLA's...to the point that it was begining to look like a whitch hunt.

[food4u]

It was a witch hunt and rural Sask. has been paying for it ever since.