The End of the Canadian Wheat Board Lotto

Man, people didn’t wait for the body of the Liberal Party of Canada to cool Monday night (May 2) before I began seeing the odd Twitter message (Tweet) wondering when the new Conservative majority government will move in to revamp the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) .

One farmer near Picture Butte, Alberta said he was so excited by the prospect of a majority Conservative government able to act on its own to revoke the CWB monopoly on wheat and barley marketing, he began to tear up as he watched the reports of the Conservative rise and Liberal fall filter in during the 2011 election coverage.

It is hard to believe it has been 18 years since the last majority Conservative government took steps to change

 the CWB mandate. It was August 1, 1993 when then Agriculture Minister Charlie Mayer (pictured at right) introduced the Continental Barley Market. That marketing window was closed 40 days later by a federal court ruling September 10, which said the minister didn’t have the authority to make the change. And then when the Liberals were elected in November of that year, well, that was the end of that Conservative notion. 

Although that freedom to market grain was short lived, the issue hasn’t waned a bit in the minds of many producers who have championed marketing choice for years. In fact in some cases, I am seeing the next generation taking up the cause of CWB marketing reform. 

While the CWB has introduced a number of marketing options over the years to give producers more flexibility in marketing wheat and barley through the board, for the purists all those programs simply fell short of the very straight forward, basic appeal of “give us the freedom to market our own crops, as we see fit, to whom ever and where ever we want.”

I don’t think there is any doubt now that some Canadian Wheat Board reform will be implemented by the new Federal minister of agriculture – whether that be the incumbent Gerry Ritz, or a new face in that portfolio. The big question is really when and what form the legislative change will take.

One of my social networks colleagues suggested it would happen within 18 months, while I was even gutsier and predicted it could happen by this fall. Maybe once hockey is over someone could organize an End-of-the-CWB-Monopoly Pool to bet on the date of legislative change. This could be one “Pool” that many wheat and barley growers would be really pleased to invest in.

Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com

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