[Newsbot]

Title: Stop Them From Wrecking The Canadian Wheat Board
Written By: Robin Mathews
Date: Friday, July 29 at 22:36
A call to action to all Canadians.  Stop the Wreckage of the Canadian Wheat Board and the handing of power over Canadian grains to foreign owners.  Stop the Harperites NOW ... with action.
 
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[RickW]

As the song goes:
"Sometimes you don't what you've got 'til it's gone...."
The average Canuck hardly knows what the CWB is anymore, and furthermore doesn't give a damn.

[Dave Ruston]

Dismantle the wheat board and you'll see what's left of the small and medium farms in Canada fail and/ or become serfs on their own land.

[RickW]

Dave Ruston wrote:

Dismantle the wheat board and you'll see what's left of the small and medium farms in Canada fail and/ or become serfs on their own land.

But, what with "farmers" comprising a mere 2% of the population, governments don't give a damn about small and medium farms. They are neither good for votes, nor are they good for political donations. Corporate agribusiness on the other hand, is good for political donations, not to mention a place for ex-politicos to wind up their career after politics.

[Brent Swain]

If it wasn't for the gun registry, farmers and many others in Saskatchewan wouldn't have elected conservatives, and they wouldn't have a majority. Losing the wheat board ( CBC, sovereignty etc) is a hell of a price to pay for saving a totally useless bureaucracy.
It will leave the corporate world in total control of our food supplies, and what they decide to put in it.

[Dave Ruston]

Yeah, its like, people can't seem to focus on all of the issues affecting us all either in a positive or negative fashion. For some reason, they can only focus on that one issue that only begins to affect them directly at that moment!Another effective divide and conquer tool.

[RickW]

The assault on Canada's hinterland has been going on for quite a long time now. It's long-term, and low level, but continuous.

I liken in kind to what Stalin did to the peasants when he starved some 20-40 million of them.

[Caelon]

Just curious. Are any of the posts here from a Western Canadian farmer? Or to be even more specific a western farmer who grows grain and has experience selling the grain through the CWB?

If so would you care to present the arguements of your neighbours who wish to market the grain without using the the CWB? What are the concerns of barley growers? What about feed grains versus hard red spring?

[Dr Caleb]

Don't be silly Caleon. That would get in the way of a good rant against Farmers actually voting to determine their own fate and the fate of a company that affects only them.

Farmers must be supressed from making decisions that improve their own business, at all costs.

[Caelon]

I see your point Caleb. We should not let facts get in the way of a position.

[RickW]

Dr Caleb wrote:

Farmers must be supressed from making decisions that improve their own business...

Care to substantiate that, Dr. C?
In the meantime:
http://www.cwb.ca/public/en/hot/decision/atstake/
- The CWB is controlled, directed and funded by farmers. The implications of dismantling the single desk are profound. Farmers should be the ones to decide the future of the marketing organization that they run and pay for.

- The CWB is western Canadian farmers' marketing organization for wheat, durum wheat and barley. The Canadian Wheat Board Act gives it a legal mandate to extract the highest overall returns for farmers by effectively leveraging the powers of the single desk.

- The CWB sells farmers' grain in 70 countries. It returns all profits to farmers - between $4 billion and $7 billion a year.

The CWB manages a supply chain that extends from farm gate to end-use customer. It has an envied international reputation for consistent quality and supply, superior service and technical support.

- The CWB is not a grain company. It has no shareholders. It has no retained earnings. It has negligible assets. Most importantly, it has no grain-handling infrastructure such as country elevators or port terminals to take grain from farmers or load it onto ships for customers. Its only significant "asset" is its legislated mandate to sell all of the wheat, durum and barley grown in Western Canada - the single desk.

- Ten of the 15 members of the CWB board of directors are elected by farmers. Farmers consistently elect a majority of directors who support the single-desk structure. Eight of the 10 farmer-elected members of the CWB board of directors are strong proponents of the single desk.

- CWB operations are made possible by federal government guarantees. The guarantees underwrite initial payments for farmers and the organization's financial borrowings. The CWB and its investors have never had to call upon the borrowing guarantee. The guarantee on initial payments is rarely used. Taxpayers do not fund the CWB.

[Dave Ruston]

Well then instead of our governemnt in a dictatorial manner disposing of the wheat board for corporate interests, just like they are doing to public health care, why doesn't this government actually take a vote from all farmers to see what their position is? I mean, how hypocritical is it when our government, and their corporate backed- think tanks, have been preaching for years now that government has no place in the market so as to try to justify the corporate colonization of this country. Private interests can do it more efficiently, they say. Yeah, like GM, and Goldman sachs, and the like. But here's something to REALLY expose the hypocrisy of our government- we allow state owned Chinese and Norwegian oil companies into our oil patch! Whoa.

[Caelon]

I suppose you realize that the CWB only applies to western Canada and not to Ontario or other points east. And you also realize that unlike farmers in eastern Canada western farmers are mandated to sell therir grain ONLY to the CWB. Failure to do so leaves them subject to fines and or imprisonment.

Not a free market system but a monopsony.

Quote:

A study by authors, Colin A. Carter and R. M. A. Loyns found that measurable costs of the single-desk to farmers exist, they vary and could be as high as $20 per tonne in any year for wheat. Taxpayer costs could be another $5 to $6 per tonne. For barley growers, the hidden costs of the Board are larger than $20 per tonne, and the taxpayer costs are approximately $9 per tonne.

Many farmers are opposed to the CWB and would like the option of marketing their grain independently. They already do on pulse crops such as faba beans and field peas and do so quite effectively.

So why is it a crime for a western Canadian farmer to sell his wheat or barley privately , but not a crime for an Ontario farmer?

I am sure you are well read on the subject and would be familiar with the western farmer point of view and would be willing to share it.

[Dr Caleb]

RickW wrote:

Dr Caleb wrote:

Farmers must be supressed from making decisions that improve their own business...

Care to substantiate that, Dr. C?

Substantiate what? Forget your sarcasm detector in your other pants? Caleon's is tuned properly.

RickW wrote:

In the meantime:
http://www.cwb.ca/public/en/hot/decision/atstake/
- The CWB is controlled, directed and funded by farmers.

And that's my point. It's controlled by farmers. From what I recall of you, you are not a farmer. Neither am I. So what business do we have telling farmers how to run their businesses?

Here's a great set of videos from the small farmer point of view:

http://www.canadaka.net/forums/canadian ... 96093.html

[RickW]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_W ... eat_boards

Quote:

Farmers were impressed by the success of state-led marketing as it was practised during World War I.

We aren't telling them. They are telling themselves.

As for "sarcasm", you "righties" are often bereft of such a trait......