The Marxist-Leninist Daily

The Harper dictatorship has tabled legislation to destroy the Canadian Wheat Board. His party and government have long attacked the farmer-controlled single-desk marketing of wheat and barley, which exists for the benefit of farmers, international consumers and Canada in opposition to the global food monopolies. Harper contends the Wheat Board intrudes into a sector where the actual producers do not belong, a sector that should rightfully belong to the global food monopolies mainly centred in the United States so that they can claim added-value from what Canadians produce. In this period of neoliberal globalization and domination of the U.S. Empire, the Canadian Wheat Board is the last of producer-controlled grain marketing institutions left in the world.

October 17, standing in an Alberta farm field before a big banner touting "Marketing freedom," Harper's Agricultural Minister made the announcement of the dictatorship's determination to defy the wishes of Prairie farmers and their allies to keep their farmer-controlled Wheat Board and its international system to market and transport wheat and barley. Three days earlier with the violent words of a tin pot dictator, Harper threatened supporters of the Wheat Board and told them to give up because "this train is barrelling down a Prairie track. You're much better to get on it than to lie on the tracks because this is going ahead."

Fresh from bringing "marketing freedom" to Libya on behalf of the Western oil monopolies through NATO bombs and bullets, the Harper dictatorship has set its bomb sights on Prairie farmers and the social consciousness of all Canadians. "Marketing freedom" for the global food companies such as Cargill and Bunge means a dictatorship of monopoly right over Prairie farmers and consumers of grain worldwide, and theft of value from what Canadians produce and transport. Monopoly marketing freedom has resulted in food insecurity for billions of people throughout the world and even starvation in the most vulnerable countries.

Monopoly marketing freedom is an attack on public right and food security. It is an attack on the rights of those who do the work to produce, manage, inspect and transport grain and specifically their right to have a say and control over all aspects of their sector. Harper's monopoly marketing freedom attacks Prairie farmers and their communities, and the thousands of Canadians who handle, inspect and transport wheat and barley, and supply farmers with their necessary inputs.

Harper's monopoly marketing freedom is a bullet in the social consciousness of Canadians who have gained enormous understanding of pricing wheat and barley to serve the actual producers and promote stability and mutual benefit in international trade. Social consciousness of pricing of commodities is an invaluable asset for nation-building in opposition to the business cycle of recurring crises, anarchy and chaos of private monopolies that price commodities to serve their narrow interests to the detriment of the actual producers, their socialized economy and the public good.

Canadian workers have long looked at the Canadian Wheat Board as an institution controlled by the actual producers that serves the progressive trend of history towards a human-centred economy in opposition to a capital-centred one. The Wheat Board stands as a positive example for all sectors of the economy in solving the problem of monopoly control of prices and the anarchy, chaos and economic crises that ensue. The Wheat Board and other supply management marketing boards for farm commodities show a way forward towards public control over the wholesale sector of all commodities in opposition to the destructive control and pricing of the monopoly-controlled markets.

Canadians should stand as one in opposition to Harper's "barrelling train" of monopoly right to destroy the Canadian Wheat Board. Let us together stop Harper's anti-social train aimed at nation-building, public right, food security and those who do the work of producing and transporting Prairie wheat and barley.

Growing Opposition to Harper's Destruction of
Wheat Board and Nation-Wrecking

On October 18 the Harper government tabled Bill C-18, An Act to reorganize the Canadian Wheat Board and to make consequential and related amendments to certain Acts (short title: Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act), to dismantle the treasured public monopoly, the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB). The legislation undermines the CWB's public monopoly by creating a voluntary organization that is intended to be transitioned into a private, for-profit corporation in the future. It also eliminates any direct representation by farmers on the Board by removing the 10 farmer-elected directors from the helm of the CWB, creating a new governing structure consisting of five government appointees.

"This is not about putting farmers in the drivers' seat -- it's about throwing us under the bus, and handing the steering wheel to huge American and European multinationals that control the world's grain trade," Allen Oberg, chair of the CWB's board of directors stated in response to the legislation. "The CWB will no longer be controlled by farmers or focused on farmers. This is not about giving farmers choice, it's about ignoring the choices they've already made. Farmers chose the CWB single desk in our plebiscite this summer, when tens of thousands voted to keep it. Farmers choose the people who run the CWB in director elections, and they repeatedly choose farmer-directors who value the single desk," he added.

In the Parliament, the NDP and Liberals both accused the Harper government of violating its oath of office in bringing forward the legislation and in pushing an ideological crusade against the Wheat Board. Both cited a provision in the current Act that strictly forbids the government from undermining the Wheat Board as it is doing. Section 47.1 of the Canadian Wheat Board Act reads:

"The Minister shall not cause to be introduced in Parliament a bill that would exclude any kind, type, class or grade of wheat or barley, or wheat or barley produced in any area in Canada, from the provisions of Part IV, either in whole or in part, or generally, or for any period, or that would extend the application of Part III or Part IV or both Parts III and IV to any other grains, unless

"(a) the Minister has consulted with the board about the exclusion or extension; and

"(b) the producers of the grain have voted in favour of the exclusion or extension, the voting process having been determined by the Minister."

Reaffirming that the Harper government will not abide by the Act, Chief Government Whip Gordon O'Connor responded: "My fundamental argument is that this is the House of Commons where we can pass laws subject to the Supreme Court. We can pass laws as long as they do not affect the Constitution or involve other legislatures. We can bring in laws that amend previous laws that can go back to 1867. We have that right. We have been elected by the people. "

Members of the Opposition called on the government to implement a plebiscite, which it is duty-bound to do under Section 47.1. They pointed out that in the absence of a government plebiscite, the Canadian Wheat Board's plebiscite shows that the Harper government is acting in opposition to the interests of farmers. The Harper government's main response was to claim that they represent ridings where Western farmers reside, therefore their actions are in the best interest of these farmers.

The Opposition also opposed the dismantling of the Wheat Board in the face of the recently announced U.S. "Buy American" provisions. Their claim is: why would the Harper government hand over the Canadian wheat industry, something the U.S. has had its sights on for years, as evidenced by its 14 challenges at the World Trade Organization against the Public Monopoly, in the face of U.S. "protectionist moves."

In the midst of debate during second reading and the broad opposition of farmers, the Harper government moved to limit debate on the legislation to three days. Minister of Agriculture Gerry Ritz tried to cover up his desire to let the large agriculture monopolies know that their demand to control the Canadian market will be granted by presenting the move to limit debate as an issue of providing farmers with "certainty." "The government is giving western Canadian farmers nothing more than their right to manage their own businesses their own way. While we welcome constructive debate, frivolous delays will only hurt our farmers and the overall grain industry.

"We owe it to producers to provide market certainty so they can continue to plan their businesses. Farmers must plan for the 2012-2013 year. They are already putting inputs in the ground, getting ready. When they are making seeding decisions they will want to know what the marketing system will be for that 2012 crop."

The motion to limit debate to two more sitting days passed 156 to 121. On October 24, MP Niki Ashton (Churchill, NDP) introduced a motion in the House of Commons calling on the government to let farmers decide the fate of the Canadian Wheat Board and other marketing boards. The motion stated:

"That, in the opinion of the House, farmers have a democratic right to determine the future of their own supply management tools and marketing boards; and recognizing this right, the House calls on the government to set aside its legislation abolishing the Canada Wheat Board (CWB) single desk and to conduct a full and free vote by all current members of the CWB to determine their wishes, and calls on the government to agree to honour the outcome of that democratic process."

Bill Gehl, chairperson of the Canadian Wheat Board Alliance, a non-partisan group of farmers from across the prairies, spoke in support of the motion, saying, "This is really about the basic democratic principle that the people affected by a decision should have a democratic say in that decision and that is what this motion recognizes.

"The law says we should have a vote and this summer farmers held a plebiscite which showed the majority want to keep our Wheat Board, yet Ottawa is not listening. I hope all members of Parliament will support this motion to give us back our democratic rights" Gehl concluded.

Debate at second reading continued on October 24 before the bill moved to committee for further review.

In this issue, TML is reporting on the growing opposition to the actions of the Harper government to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board as well as the devastating effects this will have on both rural communities and modern port and transportation facilities, providing a very good example of precisely what nation-wrecking is. All of this is done to satisfy the demands of the five biggest food monopolies in the world. It is unconscionable and the government must be stopped. TML calls on workers across the country and their allies to take concrete measures to join this growing opposition. Write articles, send letters, make sure your MP knows where you stand, join the Stop Harper protests and discuss the necessity for a modern nation-building program based on democratic renewal where it is the people who control the decision-making process, not the representatives of global monopolies.

Board Directors Launch Lawsuit to
Defend Farmers' Rights

The CWB's farmer-controlled board of directors today announced that legal action will be launched against the federal government in defense of Prairie farmers' democratic rights.

"The Harper government has acted illegally and unethically in its attacks on the Canadian Wheat Board, and it must be stopped," said board chair Allen Oberg, a farmer from Forestburg, Alberta. "As it charges ahead, the government is mowing down everything in its way. The casualties will be democracy, due process, Parliamentary debate and Canada's agricultural economy.

"We have no choice but to take this last stand on behalf of farmers. We will not be intimidated by bullies."

The lawsuit, being filed today in federal court, states the government broke the law when it introduced Bill C-18 on Oct. 18 because it did not first conduct a plebiscite of affected producers, as required by Section 47.1 of the Canadian Wheat Board Act, which remains in force. Almost 40,000 producers participated in a CWB-run plebiscite over the summer, with 62 per cent voting to retain the single-desk marketing system for wheat.

"Not only is this government ignoring farmers' wishes, it plans to fire the 10 directors who are elected directly by farmers to run the CWB," Oberg said. "If it can remove a democratically elected board -- simply because we disagree with them -- Canadians should ask themselves who's next on their hit list. If they can ram this important legislation through Parliament by limiting debate, where does it end?

"A majority government does not confer absolute power or create a dictatorship. Winning a majority of seats in the House of Commons does not bestow the right to sidestep rules created by previous governments in the interests of fairness, democracy and due process."

Oberg said he refuses to give up and "bow to the inevitable" as some have suggested.

"We will continue to do everything in our power to fight back against bullying by the federal government. This is not about saving the CWB. This is about farmers being allowed to decide for themselves whether they want this type of grain-marketing structure. All the evidence shows that they do."

Oberg said removing the CWB single-desk would harm Canada's agricultural economy by transferring profits and power to large, foreign-owned grain corporations.

"Judge this action by who it will benefit," he said. "Canada is the last country on earth where huge multinationals cannot source wheat and barley. When the CWB is gone, that will change. Western Canadian wheat will be added to the corporate inventory, while Prairie farmers lose the benefits of being direct sellers.

"The Americans will finally win what they been fighting to get for decades. And Canada will receive nothing in return."

"The CWB has served farmers faithfully and well," he said. "It does a good job and most farmers want to keep it. So what is the logic of transferring control over wheat marketing from Prairie farmers to global corporations? Why is the government so eager to rip the CWB apart, in a mad rush that precludes solid economic analysis, fair consultation and careful deliberation?

"This kind of behaviour ought to concern more than the farmers of Western Canada. It should raise alarm bells for us all."

The CWB's legal application and affadavits will be posted as soon as possible on its Web site at www.cwb.ca.

Actions in Defence of Wheat Board

Across the prairies there is growing opposition to the Harper government's attempts to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board and its public monopoly.

On October 21, farmers loading producer grain cars on the farmer owned Battle River Railway in central Alberta
held up "Stop Harper" signs and "Respect Farmers, Respect our Vote" signs to indicate their displeasure with
Ottawa's plans to end the single desk of the Canadian Wheat Board. (CWBA)

In Colonsay, just south of Saskatoon, Bill Gehl, chairperson of the Canadian Wheat Board Alliance joined several dozen farmers to echo the concerns expressed in Alberta. "Harper and Ritz are simply wrong to say they have a mandate to end the Wheat Board. We are the majority and in every Wheat Board Directors election and plebiscite held for farmers the message has been the same. Keep your hands off our Wheat Board. We need the help of all Canadians to oppose this attack on farmers and the democratic process," said Gehl, while the farmers symbolically blocked a railway to oppose the Harper government's attack on the Wheat Board. (CWBA)

Harper Government Has Bullied and
Outraged Prairie Grain Farmers

The National Farmers Union (NFU) says that the Harper government hasn't deceived prairie wheat and barley farmers with their dual market rhetoric. "The NFU has always maintained that a dual market is not possible. It's the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) with the single desk, or not CWB at all. Harper has known this all along, and the legislation his government introduced yesterday proves that," stated NFU President Terry Boehm.

The Marketing Freedom For Grain Farmers Act creates a temporary, shadow CWB (without the single desk), which has until 2016 to either present a plan to privatize, or be dissolved altogether. The Harper government has allowed the shadow CWB to maintain its government guarantees for five years. However, the shadow CWB was not given regulatory access to grain handlers or seed capital, which would be crucial for its survival. The CWB has no assets, and therefore the new entity will be completely dependent on its competitors for such things as access to handling facilities. "This new entity should really be called 'Fast Gerry's Temporary Discount Grain Company,' because Ritz and Harper really have no intention of having it survive in the open market," said Boehm.

"This amounts to a wholesale attack by Harper on his own people. In 2008, he said he would walk over anyone who got in his way. Less than two weeks ago, he told farmers he would run them over like a train. He has said over and over that he would create a dual market. It's just lies and bullying," stated Boehm. "By introducing this legislation, Harper has refused to recognize the democratic right of farmers to decide the fate of the CWB themselves. The new legislation eliminates the ten directors that farmers elected to represent them, and it just gives away for free the real market power that farmers had on their side and paid for themselves," continued Boehm.

"What is absolutely clear now, if it never was before, is that Harper does not care about prairie grain farmers. All he cares about are his ideological obsessions and pleasing his friends in the big grain and railway companies. This is an outrage!" stated NFU Region 5 (Manitoba) Coordinator Ian Robson.

National Farmers Union Sign-On Letter

* Recognize the billions of dollars of economic value that the CWB annually creates for farmers, rural communities, short line railroads and the whole of Canada through its superior marketing ability, capacity to defend Canadian interests in trade disputes, and the fact that it returns all net proceeds from sales to farmers.

* Are proud of the strong international reputation for quality and reliability that Canadian wheat and barley have, which is a direct result of the CWB and its companion institutions, Canadian International Grains Institute and the Canadian Grain Commission.

* Deplore the federal government's stated intention to deny the outcome of the recent voluntary plebiscite where 62% of farmers voted in favour of keeping the single desk for wheat and 51% supported keeping it for barley.

We therefore call upon the federal government to immediately stop undermining the single desk authority of the CWB. If any changes to the Board are contemplated, we insist that the federal government comply with the Canadian Wheat Board Act Section 47.1 which requires a binding plebiscite (vote) of farmers before any substantive change to its single desk authority is implemented.

Sign-on to the letter by sending an email with the subject "CWB" to nfu@nfu.ca and include your group's name and contact information.

Vancouver and District Labour Council
Denounces Wrecking of Wheat Board

October 18, the very day federal Minister of Agriculture Gerry Ritz introduced legislation to wreck the Canadian Wheat Board, workers in Vancouver through their District Labour Council (VDLC) passed an executive resolution denouncing this attack on nation-building.

Speaking to the motion, a delegate said the working class movement must break the silence on the Harper government's wrecking of the country. The Canadian Wheat Board unites Prairie farmers with their fellow Canadians working at ports in Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Churchill and Thunder Bay and on the railway.

Almost 80 per cent of exported Canadian grain, worth $6 billion goes through the two ports on the west coast. This connection with the Canadian Prairie and the wealth farmers and grain transportation workers produce is directly threatened by Harper's wrecking of the Wheat Board. The mostly U.S.-controlled food monopolies that want to seize the Canadian grain trade will almost surely mix Canadian and U.S. grain together and ship it through their own elevators such as the Bunge grain terminal in Longview, Washington. At that terminal, Bunge and its monopoly partners from Japan and Korea are using scab labour and state-organized violence, mass arrests and private armed mercenaries to break the unity and rights of the International Longshore Workers' Union (ILWU).

The Vancouver Port is a precious natural asset. It serves as a unifying factor in bringing us together with our fellow Canadian longshore workers in Halifax, transportation workers across the country and importantly the Prairie farmers who produce so much wealth for the benefit of not only themselves but the entire nation. Workers cannot allow this solidarity of purpose in producing and transporting the bounty of Mother Earth to be broken by the Harper nation-wreckers and U.S. monopolies.

The building of ports and the railroads across the country and into the BC interior were crucial factors in opposing our being swallowed up by the U.S. Empire. The Canadian Wheat Board, its operations right here in Vancouver, the railway, elevators and terminals unite us with our fellow Canadian farmers and workers and serve as a single whole in sustaining our way of life and standard of living. By wrecking the Wheat Board, Harper is destroying the material and subjective basis of what it means to be Canadian. The institutions we built for over a century are the lifeblood of the modern nation and the material basis for our well-being.

Part of breaking the solidarity of Canadians was Harper's action to make the Vancouver port inaccessible to residents, especially youth and students. He declared the port "off-limits" and surrounded it with barbed wire as he annexed Canada into the U.S. war on terror. Now that Harper has hidden the port from Vancouverites, he is delivering another blow to our sense of nationhood by destroying the Wheat Board, which is a crucial publicly-controlled institution serving the people and public right in opposition to the monopolies. Workers cannot allow this. This attack is part of the onslaught on workers and farmers' rights, way of life and standard of living. The institutions we built including the port are crucial factors in our well-being and that of our society.

At this time, Harper is wrecking our nation and attacking workers' rights at Canada Post and Air Canada with impunity because we are not organized into a powerful Workers' Opposition. Our duty is to change the situation. The direction of the port and the economy of Vancouver generally are not under the control of those who work and live here and whose aim is to build Canada not annex it into a United States of North American Monopolies. The workers need to set a new direction for the port, economy and nation-building. Discuss how to oppose the wrecking of the Canadian Wheat Board. (See TML Weekly articles on the current struggle of ILWU to defend their rights at their ports in Washington, September 10, 2011; October 22, 2011.)

VDLC Resolution on Canadian Wheat Board

BECAUSE the Federal Minister of Agriculture is introducing a bill to liquidate the Canada Wheat Board's single desk marketing power; and

BECAUSE this bill is a major concession to the anti-union, anti-Canadian grain monopolies; and

BECAUSE 80% of all Canadian grain, valued at $5.5 Billion, is currently exported through the Port of Vancouver; and

BECAUSE elimination of the Wheat Board will threaten the jobs of unionized grain workers, long shore workers, PSAC Canadian Grain Commission workers, the National Farmers' Union and railroad workers,

THE VANCOUVER AND DISTRICT LABOUR COUNCIL WILL call on the Harper government to withdraw the proposed bill to eliminate the Canadian Wheat Board, and support actions of VDLC affiliates to retain the Wheat Board and protect the work it provides.

Harper Caught in Web of His Own Deceit

According to Prime Minister Harper and his minions the election of a government in Canada, even if only by 24.3 per cent of the eligible voters, as with the Harper government in the May 2 election, provides that government with a mandate to do whatever it wants. The voters, he claims, knew what his government was up to and have given him a mandate to carry this out. On this basis, Harper justifies his government's plans to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) despite the CWB's own plebescite in which its members, the farmers, voted to keep the CWB with its public monopoly. He does not recognize the vote of the farmers as a mandate and instead spins lies claiming it was rigged or that it was not representative and even that the choice of the majority of those voting in the plebiscite goes against freedom!

Unfortunately for Harper, he is starting to get caught in his own web of deceit. On October 4, he issued the following statement on the re-election of the NDP government and Premier Greg Selinger in Manitoba: "On October 4, 2011, the people of Manitoba gave Premier Greg Selinger a mandate to continue to serve as the head of Manitoba's provincial government. I congratulate the Premier and his team on their victory."

This same Manitoba government just this summer launched a campaign to support the CWB in opposition to the Harper government's plans to destroy it. The campaign involved television, radio and print advertisements, along with a petition openly supporting the Board and insisting that farmers be the ones who decide its fate.

Clearly the voters of Manitoba knew the stand of their government. In a press release launching the campaign, Premier Selinger stated, "The CWB is important to so many Manitobans, providing grain growers with an effective and reliable way to sell their grains along with employing hundreds of people in Winnipeg. We're very concerned with the message the federal government is sending to farmers and we won't just let them pull the plug on the Canadian Wheat Board."

Similarly, the Harper government keeps raising that it has a mandate to dismantle the Wheat Board which is a self-serving lie which has been thoroughly exposed in the Parliament amongst other places. Speaking to this MP Niki Ashton (Churchill, NDP) pointed out:

"Recently, there was a federal election. We know for a fact that during the campaign many Conservative candidates did not speak about the Wheat Board. The subject was not in their material. If anything, they told a different story in person. There was a very vocal Conservative candidate in Churchill who mentioned a number of issues, but certainly did not mention the Wheat Board. That candidate certainly did not mention what the loss of the Wheat Board would mean to the community of Churchill, whose port depends 95% on the grain product that comes through the Canadian Wheat Board.

"What kind of transparency was offered to people across the Prairies as they voted on May 2? Not only was it not made clear in the campaign what the government's agenda would be, but in some instances candidates actually served to hide their message. At a March agricultural forum in Minnedosa, Manitoba, hosted by the member of Parliament for Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food told those gathered that the Conservatives 'respected the vote of farmers'. He told the crowd, 'Until farmers make that change, I'm not prepared to work arbitrarily.' He was also quoted as saying that the farmers 'are absolutely right to believe in democracy. I do, too.'"

Given Harper's stated notion of a mandate, based on the Manitoba election results and the May 2 federal election results, he should immediately stop his government's campaign to destroy the CWB. The more he cites that he has a mandate to wreck Canada, the more Canadians can see that his claim of a mandate is just disinformation to hide that he is acting in opposition to the will of the people and the general interests of the society. With his notions of a mandate coming back to haunt him, Canadians should force Harper to explain whose mandate he is carrying out in his drive to destroy the CWB's public monopoly and wreck Canada.

President of Battle River Railway Urges
Action to Defend Wheat Board

Posted below is an excerpt from the August 2011 report of Ken Eshpeter, President of the Battle River Railway (BRR), a community-owned line located in central Alberta that began shipping grains in December 2010. The BRR website explains that its "intent is to prevent further loss of transportation and agricultural infrastructure. The BRR will operate as a user-friendly short-line where producers and other interested parties will be able to consider both originating and terminating freight on the line."

***

It is just over a year since we held our railway party celebrating the acquisition of our little shortline. During that year the board of directors and shareholders learned a lot about running a railroad and moving grain. The year has been hugely successful with BRR moving a total of 731 cars resulting in a good-looking financial picture. [...] Our new grains manager, Matthew Enright deserves much credit for all the work he has done in organizing the new composite blending program in co-ordination with the CWB. [...]

Our goal for the coming crop year is 1000 cars. How do we plan to reach 1000 cars? We want to pull at least 800 cars of board grains and we are working hard to move canola and peas. [...]

There is one very important issue that I must discuss with both users and shareholders. The presence of the CWB has been pivotal to the success of our shortline operation. It acts as our producer car administrator, composite blending organizer, Vancouver and Prince Rupert terminal space organizer, car allocator, as well as performing several behind the scenes functions for all grain shippers. It is a fierce advocate for small grain players like farmer owned inland terminals, shortlines and small grain companies. If the federal government continues to dismantle the CWB, we at the Board of Directors of BRR do not know how shortlines will be successful in the new commercial environment. As a result we would strongly encourage you as shippers and shareholders to apply pressure to your local federal member of parliament by making them aware of the risks to small grain and transportation players if the board were to disappear. [...] The Canadian Wheat Board has been acting as a referee, so to speak, in this current system. The federal legislation under which the CWB operates makes it possible for the board to access elevator space across the prairies, to help organize and prioritize hopper car allocation for all players, to access terminal space on the west coast, as well as a host of other important functions.

To date the anti-board proponents have made the CWB Board of Directors the scapegoat by insinuating that they will not co-operate in devising a model that will allow a voluntary CWB to replace the current single desk system in a purely commercial environment. This is completely false. The Board has presented to Minister Ritz several options that they have researched, but they have found that none of these options comes even close to returning a level of net revenue to farmers that the current model does. If we lose the Canadian Wheat Board it will be gone forever. For the sake of your investment in the Battle River Shortline, in your community, and in your farm, I strongly urge you to get active now.

Open Letter from Former Assistant Commissioner of Canada Grain Commission

Posted below is an open letter from Donna Welke to Saskatchewan grain producers who use "producer cars," i.e., railcars directly loaded by the growers themselves, which highlights the significance and role of the Canadian Wheat Board with respect to the shipment of grains.

***

I believe that politicians should not be interfering in the farmers' organization. I was the Assistant Commissioner of the Canada Grain Commission in Saskatchewan at the time when elevators were being destroyed and rail lines abandoned. Farmers wanted to set up loading facilities for producer cars. I learned how this could be accomplished "on the job." and you, the taxpayer, paid for my learning curve. Even though I no longer receive a salary I feel compelled to share the information and the facts with you. I admired and enjoyed working with the grain farmers and now I want to give back.

As many of you know, every time you ship a producer car, you are using the Canada Grain Act which allows an alternative system or "safety valve" method of shipping grains. This means, if, and only if, there is someone at port position prepared to sell it then you can ship any grain in a producer car. For wheat, durum and barley this seller has been the CWB. Since the CWB has a mandate to get the best returns possible for farmers, they find sales for producer cars of CWB grains. But, for non-board grains like canola, grain handling companies want to buy your grains at their facilities on the prairies not at port. So there are very few producer cars shipped for non-board grains. If the CWB is removed, it will be the same for your wheat durum and barley.

In order for the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) to allocate producer cars which has been repeatedly identified as a lawful "right", there must be cars available. Section 28 K of the Canadian Wheat Board Act allows the CWB to distribute rail cars for the loading of CWB grain. However, it won't matter how cars are distributed or allocated if there is no one to sell it at the ports.

It should be noted that the proposed legislation tabled in Parliament strips the Wheat Board of this power to allocate rail cars.

Payment is made on the basis of the CGC's official grade, dockage, protein and weight at the time of unload at the port. (Inward Weighing and Inspection). The CGC is an independent third party and its high standards are recognized around the world. It has been suggested that other grading companies could be used but it is the authority from the Canada Grain Act that ensures that the CGC's grade is the final authority. What good is the inspection and weighing to the producer if the companies do not have to accept it?

The CWB and the and the CGC work as a system in the marketing and the selling of your grain. Grain quality, consistency and safety are an important part of the niche market that the CWB and the CGC have developed world wide for the advantage of farmers. The CGC and the CWB staff on the prairies have always worked together "in the interest of producers" in fact it is the law that the CGC must do so, a law that is currently under review.

You may have the right to ship a producer car but without the Wheat Board to send you a car and sell your grain, it won't matter. The future of producer cars is at serious risk. If producer car shipping is not an option, how long do you think the trucking incentives will remain?

For those of you involved in short lines and producer car facilities you know that you contribute to municipal and education taxes in several rural municipalities and towns. You pay considerable interest to the local financial institutions and the traffic drives IN to your town. not OUT.

The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) was very instrumental in encouraging producer car facilities because of road maintenance costs and as part of the rural revitalization.

West Central Road and Rail (WCRR) played an important role at the Estey/Kroeger process to ensure that the revenue cap kept producer cars viable.

Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) recently came out with a statement suggesting the need for time to put a plan in place but the Federal government seems to be in a hurry and has tabled legislation which will end the Wheat Board, dismiss the farmer elected directors and take regulatory power away from its successor.

The Canadian system from seed registration to outward inspection of a vessel is an expensive system that farmers pay for. But it is worth it, because a higher percentage of the world market for both high quality and regular grain is captured because of the quality and consistency. That means more money and sales for western Canadian producers.

Because of our landlocked position and high transportation costs, we cannot compete on volume or price so quality is essential. You as producers know that and so do our competitors. For example, it is in the interest of the United States to blend down our quality to get a competitive advantage for their corporations.

Talk to each other, talk to your MP and talk to your MLA during this Saskatchewan election time. Our Premier was able to influence the Federal Government to retain the single desk seller of potash so perhaps he could have some influence to keep the CWB's single desk.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. It is sent with the genuine belief that we will not be able to put the pieces back together after the fall and so your action is needed now.

Significance of Wheat Board to Nation-Building

[...] Over the last number of days we have been debating the government's steadfast agenda to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board. In doing so, we have talked about a contrast of visions, one that would take Canada back in time and one that would move us forward.

Many decades ago the Canadian Wheat Board was developed at the wish of farmers. Farmers saw the way in which private companies, often not based in western Canada, profited from their hard work and left them little in return. Farmers knew that during times of economic downturn survival meant pulling together. Moving forward meant working together. Together they developed one of the most successful marketing entities in our country.

The Wheat Board developed into far more than a marketing board. It became part of developing and selling the best wheat in the world, Canadian wheat. For decades the Canadian Wheat Board has worked with farmers and entities such as the Canadian Grain Commission to develop a top Canadian brand for export. That brand has belonged not to the Canadian Wheat Board; it has belonged to Canadian farmers. It has belonged to all of us.

I remember visiting the offices of the Canadian Wheat Board in Winnipeg on a few occasions. I saw the dozens of products that we as Canadians export to countries around the world, the products we contribute in terms of producing the final product, from pasta to rice to flour. The hard work of Canadian farmers has reached a level of reputation and is a guaranteed product from which we as Canadians have benefited. That top quality and that top brand has been a source of pride for all Canadians.

The Wheat Board though is more than a single desk. It represents the idea that those who produce the final product ought to have a say in the production. They ought to have a say in the future of their livelihoods. While the running of the Wheat Board has been shaped essentially by farmers, since 1998, 10 out of the 15 directors on the board have been elected by farmers themselves. Farmers have been in the driver's seat of an institution that works on their behalf. We have all benefited as a result of farmers guiding the Wheat Board. As farmers have prioritized the development of the best product in the world, Canada has benefited. As farmers have sought to maximize efficiency and cost savings, transportation routes across the Prairies, including in my home region, such as the Hudson Bay Line, and hubs such as the port of Churchill in my constituency have been utilized. As farmers have sought to create a system whereby stability is sought in an economy of increased uncertainty, farming families have benefited. As the Wheat Board has maximized the returns to farmers, rural communities and urban centres across western Canada have seen results.

Today that reality and that vision are at risk of disappearing. What has taken farmers decades to develop is at risk of being destroyed in a few short weeks, not by big corporations, not by another country, but by our very own government. A government that has claimed to stand for rural and western Canada threatens to bring it down. [...]

Supply Management -- An Important Principle

[...] In my home region the Freshwater Fish Marketing Board is an important board that works hard on behalf of fishers in northern Manitoba and across western Canada. If this is the government's agenda on the Wheat Board, will it be the government's agenda when it comes to freshwater fish?

What about the kind of marketing structures on which people in other regions of Canada have been calling for protection?

I would like to underscore the message shared by a number of my colleagues from Quebec: supply management is an extremely important principle when it comes to developing the rural economy and Quebec's economy in general. Does this government also have an agenda for supply management? Even though today the government claims that it is not talking about abolishing it, it has been saying the same thing about the Canadian Wheat Board for months. It says that it will listen to what the farmers have to say. Does the same go for farmers in Quebec and Ontario? Is this only for prairie farmers? We would like to truly understand this government's logic.

If the government is not listening to farmers and is telling a different story on different occasions, then who is it listening to?

Many have said that those who stand to gain the most are the corporations, players such as Cargill, Viterra, Bunge and others that have been involved with agriculture all along. Profit is the bottom line of these corporations, not maximizing the return to farmers, the well-being of rural communities or ensuring that transportation networks across the Prairies are used in the most cost-effective way for farmers and the overall economy.

"The Canadian government should give the grain industry at least six months to adjust before ending the Canadian Wheat Board's grain monopoly, the chief executive of Cargill's...Canadian subsidiary said on Wednesday.

"A good time for the change, which would allow Western Canada's farmers to sell their wheat and barley to anyone they choose instead of just the Wheat Board, would be Aug. 1, 2012, which starts the 2012/13 marketing year--"

That happens to be the same timeline the government has chosen. The exact message of Cargill Canada is the Conservative government's message to us as Canadians. Who is making those decisions and in whose interests are those decisions being made?

I would like to reference a letter to the editor wherein one prairie farmer talked about his concern with regard to the story that came out that the grain firm, Bunge, welcomes an end to the Wheat Board. Mr. Don Dutchak mentioned:

"Among his egregious opinions, [the CEO] remarks that other countries have eliminated board trade because 'it's not always well managed.'"

The Auditor General of Canada and 14 international trade investigations of the Canadian Wheat Board would all beg to disagree. Report after report has spoken of the stellar management of the Canadian Wheat Board not only for the way in which it operates and prioritizes farmers but also for its transparency and accountability. However, that is not the story we are hearing from the corporations that are interested in what will be left when the Wheat Board is gone.

Economist Murray Fulton said that the loss of the CWB's single desk would make the Canadian system more like that in the U.S. where the grain company and railroad competition would fall, the current freight revenue cap would disappear and less value would be returned to farmers. He also said that the changes would be irreversible.

Mark Sandilands of the Lethbridge Herald pointed out that once the Wheat Board is gone, "We can imagine a modern feudal system with farmers at the mercy of multinational corporations who'll decide what to grow and how much to grow".

"Ending the single desk authority of the CWB...would transfer wealth created by Canadian farmers to big private, often foreign-owned grain companies instead of being returned to farmers and spent in their communities."

According to agricultural economist Richard Gray at the University of Saskatchewan, the winners are the big grain handlers. He states:

"...big grain handlers such as Cargill, Viterra and Bunge should end up better off. They will face a huge new supply of sellers competing to unload their product and make money off the marketing margin, or difference between the purchase and resale price."

The control these corporations will have will not only set farmers back but will also seek to destroy the reputation Canada has for growing the best quality wheat in the world.

As was pointed out, the Canadian system of seed registration to outward inspection of a vessel is an expensive system that farmers pay for. However, it is worth it because a higher percentage of the world market for both high quality and regular grain is captured because of that consistent quality. That means more money and more sales for western producers.

We cannot compete on volume or price because of our landlocked position and high transportation costs so quality is essential. Donna Welke, former assistant commissioner for Saskatchewan with the Canadian Grain Commission pointed out that producers know that and so do our competitors. She noted that it is in the interest of the United States to blend down our quality to get a competitive advantage for its corporations.

The question that remains is how the government, which has many members who were elected in western Canada and which claims to stand up for rural Canada, can in good conscience say that it is acting in the best interests of farmers when we know by looking at the case of the Australian Wheat Board that it is the corporations that will gain. The farmers will lose in an increasingly insecure economy. The brand we have invested in and have developed over decades will suffer. Our rural communities and regions like western Canada, as well as other regions where people are concerned about the potential risk it would pose to the marketing structures in other parts of the country, will suffer.

How can the government dismiss these facts? How can it stand in opposition to the idea that farmers should be deciding their destiny?

I would also make reference to the level of extreme arrogance we have seen from government members on this issue. As a western Canadian, I am profoundly disturbed by the way in which they claim to know what western Canadians think about and what their interests are with regard to the Wheat Board while all the time they ignore the result of the plebiscite. They make statements such as those made by the Prime Minister regarding the train barrelling down on the Wheat Board or such as that made by the Minister of Agriculture about blowing out the candles.

We know that this kind of arrogance does not go over well in western Canada. We have seen it before with the Mulroney government where in the end it had no seats left in western Canada because people supported the idea of a democratic voice and the need for people at the grassroots level to be heard. It is the kind of arrogance that claims the government knows better with regard to our future.

In closing, as a young Canadian and someone who comes from the west what concerns me the most is what this means for our future. I would like to quote from a letter written to CBC's As it Happens by Sid Stevenson. He said:

"As a 24 year old, 5th generation Manitoba wheat grower, I feel compelled to respond to your interview with...[the] Minister of Agriculture."

"Farmers are perfectly capable of determining the marketing system we want. The majority has decided in favour of the CWB, so why is the government not supporting our decision. [...]"

Destruction of the Wheat Board Helps United States

[...] Bill C-18 begins from the premise of denying farmers their legal right to determine their own future. If the government believed it had the support of the majority of farmers, a plebiscite would have been held under section 47.1, as the legislation demands.

Who is the Minister of Agriculture really working for? Bear in mind that United States grain interests have accused the Canadian Wheat Board under United States and international trade laws of trading unfairly on 14 different occasions. The United States has lost every time. I submit that the Minister of Agriculture is serving up the Canadian Wheat Board to those United States interests on a silver platter.

An economist working with the office of the chief economist of the U.S. department of agriculture, with regard to the United States' efforts to challenge the Wheat Board, stated the following:

"The U.S. wheat industry has persistently claimed that the CWB is able to undercut commercially offered export prices in select markets or sell higher-quality wheat at discounted prices, but can offer only limited anecdotal evidence to support those claims."

The Canadian Wheat Board sells as a single desk seller and prevents the deterioration of the lowest sellers setting the price and through the Canadian Wheat Board, it is the highest seller, maximizing returns in the marketplace back to primary producers. The Canadian Wheat Board has shown that time and time again, but the minister is selling out to United States interests and farmers will be the losers.

In a May 26, 2011 statement supporting the elimination of the CWB, the United States wheat associates acknowledged the elimination of the Canadian Wheat Board could, "initially mean more Canadian wheat moving to parts of the United States...However, the huge price incentive that currently drives that desire would dissipate very quickly". The president of the United States wheat associates had this to say on an earlier occasion on the elimination of the Canadian Wheat Board, "There could be opportunities created for U.S. farmers to access markets in Canada and we can access the transportation systems as well".

Further, a study prepared for United States Senator Kent Conrad stated, "If the CWB's single desk authority is eliminated...the United States may become more competitive in offshore markets.

"The U.S. and Canadian markets would become more integrated without the CWB. It would be possible for multinational grain companies to buy wheat in Canada and export it from U.S. ports."

The bottom line is, clearly, this is a bill that would give advantages to American producers, takes advantages away from Canadian producers, gives advantages to the multinational grain trade, and Canadian farmers would be the losers. The government is doing that, imposing that on Canadian farmers without allowing farmers their right to vote under the law. [...]

Government's Tender of Audit to Dismantle
Wheat Board in Contempt of Parliament

On September 19, Liberal MP Wayne Easter revealed that on August 11 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada posted a procurement request entitled "Assessment and Identification of Assets and Financial Contracts of the Canadian Wheat Board." The request states "The purpose of the audit is to provide reasonable assurance of the total financial impact of the repeal of the Canadian Wheat Board Act and the dissolution or winding up of the CWB." This was more than two months before the Harper government would table its legislation to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board.

The notice is a violation of Parliamentary privilege, Easter said, pointing out that the action constitutes contempt for Parliament. He told the Parliament, "the contempt arises from the direct reference that the repeal of the Canadian Wheat Board Act and dissolution or winding up the Canadian Wheat Board will follow the final pooling periods expected July 31, 2012. In other words, there is the presumption that the repeal of the Canadian Wheat Board Act, a procedure which can only be sanctioned by an act of Parliament, will in fact occur. The government has made no secret of the fact that legislation to repeal the Canadian Wheat Board Act will be introduced this fall. That is its right. What the government has not stated as clearly as does the notice of proposed procurement is that the pith and substance of the act will be the 'dissolution or winding up of the CWB,'" Easter said.

"It is my submission that the posting of this notice of proposed procurement with the wording provided is a contempt of this House on the basis that no legislation has been tabled, let alone passed, upon which such a specific intent can be supported," Easter pointed out.

This is one more example of the Harper Government's contempt for Parliament and the democratic process.

Growing Opposition to Harper's Destruction of
Wheat Board and Nation-Wrecking

Stand as One Against Harper's Barrelling Train

Destroying the Canadian Wheat Board Is an Attack on Public Right, Prairie Farmers, Grain, Transport and Farm Service Workers,
and Food Security

Growing Opposition to Harper's Destruction of
Wheat Board and Nation-Wrecking

Board Directors Launch Lawsuit to
Defend Farmers' Rights

Actions in Defence of Wheat Board

Harper Government Has Bullied and
Outraged Prairie Grain Farmers

National Farmers Union Sign-On Letter

Vancouver and District Labour Council
Denounces Wrecking of Wheat Board

VDLC Resolution on Canadian Wheat Board

Harper Caught in Web of His Own Deceit

President of Battle River Railway Urges
Action to Defend Wheat Board

***

Open Letter from Former Assistant Commissioner of Canada Grain Commission

***

Significance of Wheat Board to Nation-Building

Supply Management -- An Important Principle

Destruction of the Wheat Board Helps United States

Government's Tender of Audit to Dismantle
Wheat Board in Contempt of Parliament

Growing Opposition to Harper's Destruction of Wheat Board and Nation-Wrecking

Stand as One Against Harper's Barrelling Train

Destroying the Canadian Wheat Board Is an Attack on Public Right, Prairie Farmers, Grain, Transport and Farm Service Workers, and Food Security

Growing Opposition to Harper's Destruction of Wheat Board and Nation-Wrecking

Board Directors Launch Lawsuit to Defend Farmers' Rights

Actions in Defence of Wheat Board

Harper Government Has Bullied and Outraged Prairie Grain Farmers

National Farmers Union Sign-On Letter

Vancouver and District Labour Council Denounces Wrecking of Wheat Board

VDLC Resolution on Canadian Wheat Board

Harper Caught in Web of His Own Deceit

President of Battle River Railway Urges Action to Defend Wheat Board

***

Open Letter from Former Assistant Commissioner of Canada Grain Commission

***

Significance of Wheat Board to Nation-Building

Supply Management -- An Important Principle

Destruction of the Wheat Board Helps United States

Government's Tender of Audit to Dismantle Wheat Board in Contempt of Parliament

Growing Opposition to Harper's Destruction of
Wheat Board and Nation-Wrecking

Destroying the Canadian Wheat Board Is an Attack on Public Right, Prairie Farmers, Grain, Transport and Farm Service Workers,
and Food Security

Growing Opposition to Harper's Destruction of
Wheat Board and Nation-Wrecking

Board Directors Launch Lawsuit to
Defend Farmers' Rights

Harper Government Has Bullied and
Outraged Prairie Grain Farmers

Vancouver and District Labour Council
Denounces Wrecking of Wheat Board

President of Battle River Railway Urges
Action to Defend Wheat Board

Government's Tender of Audit to Dismantle
Wheat Board in Contempt of Parliament