CWB Directed To Refrain From Spending Monies For Advocacy

Isn’t this cute. There was some print devoted to this yesterday in the Winnipeg Free Press as well.

Strong arm tactics from the weak minded.


Mike
Winnipeg

I tried to talk some sense into a few people I know from Manitoba who were planning to, and did, vote Conservative in the last election by telling them they can kiss the Wheat Board goodbye under the Conservatives. They seemed a bit stunned that I would say that. I guess I'll have to go back and re-visit my prediction with them so they know I was right.

I sure hope the 36% of voters who elected these clowns are happy.

Has there been any public consultation on this issue? What do the majority of grain farmers think about it? That is what I want to know. I know some are in favour of it, or at least used to be.
I am not a farmer and the issue won't affect me much (directly) so I think an issue such as this should be voted on by the people in the industry - particularly the family farmer. I don't recall this issue even being discussed in the last election campaign but I was in the far north, in camp so I really missed the whole thing.

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Everybody got to deviate from the norm

From what I recall of the Free Press article yesterday, farmers are about 70 percent in favour of the CWB. I don't have the article handy so don't quote me on that. It was a clear majority of well over 50 percent at any rate.

Mike
Winnipeg

I looked at the press releases by Strahl on the link and every one of them has Strahl referring to the Conservatives as "Canada's new Government".What's up with that? Yes we know they are new, they won't be in power past this upcoming spring so it is time to get over themselves.

If the wheat farmers fall into this "free marketing" "free enterprise" trap they'll end up in the same situation ranchers are.

About a month ago I sold 2, beautiful, healthy, prime condition 4 and 5 year old pregnancy tested 1200 lbs cows at the auction sales for $295. each. Apart from the calves, scheduled to be born in March, those cows have at least $2,500 worth of meat in them in the supermarkets. They were worth at least $1,000. each.

Guess who controls the "free market" prices? We can rest assured that when politics are over for him, a Cargill directorship is waiting for Strahl.

Ed Deak.

Wheat board and the quota system, was enacted to ensure farmers got a fair price. "WAS" is the key word. The quota system and the Wheat Board has shown that the "best Prices" are determined by their system. Farmers should have the option to decide if they themselves can sell their products at an advantage. A "sellers coop" should be voluntary. The CWB should not have the power to persecute those farmers not wanting to trade through them. I find no referance from Jeff Howard inrespect to the "quota system". The quota system can work for or against the farmer/rancher. The Canadian farmer has to compete with the heavly subsidised American farmer and it appears now they will have to compete with the "new government" first. Jeff Howard is willing to remove the Canadian competition from the market place. That, or he is expecting the CWB to spend more time and money increasing their share of the market. Oct 18th should be more revealing.

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Expect little from life and get more from it.

The new Conservatism and the new Government operate on a series of ideological principles designed to entitle the more affluent segments of the economy. The prohibition against using government money for advocacy is designed to give more power to the monied class. In other words, freedom to promote an agenda has a price and if you don't have the resources to get access to the corridors of power you are "inferior and undeserving."

Private corporations can and do contribute large sums of money to advocacy. Organizations such as the Fraser Institute is an advocacy (pressure group) funded by corporations to promote their agenda. An extremely affluent group such as the Canadian Council of Chief Executives is such a powerful advocacy group that it even gets a role in making law. With the new political political restrictions these advocacy groups have become even more powerful players because much of the money that once went directly went to political parties now goes to these groups and there are no limits.

This is an extremely right wing elitist government that believes in the superiority of the capitalist class and that no one but the economic elite is entitled to influence on government.

When our new federal government "consults" it is only with members of the economic elite and they become the de facto rulers.

I fully agree, Innes. When government consults only one sector it is a bona fide conspiracy to defraud all others.

But then, this has been going on through history with the conspiracy between the Merchants, the Priesthoods and the Military.

We can see the classic repetitition of this conspiracy in the present: The Merchants are represented by the multinationals, with the banks providing them with the power unlimited capital, the Priesthoods by the economists, using the pseudo religion of the neoclassical theory to legalize blackmail, theft and extortion and the Military, who are always the same, enforcing the rule of ruling classes.

Ed Deak.

The interesting thing is that the classical economists opposed this kind of elitist system. Adam Smith claimed that merchants and manufacturers should never be the rulers of men because they were too greedy.

Even neo-classical writers like Hayek was opposed to privilege.

This is why the modern right wing is much further to the right than at least some of the more prominent classical and neo-classical theorists. I am looking forward to reading some of the other oft quoted neo-lib/neo-con icons to see if they are as extreme in their views as their followers.

Certainly the business class will always have some influence and it would be undemocratic to suggest that they should not. It is when the lines between government and the largest players in the corporate sector begin to blur and merge that the movement has gone too far in that direction.