Canadian Chamber of Commerce calls for open grain
market in all of Canada
(September 15, 2003 - CP) The country's largest business group called Monday for
the federal government to end the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly on
selling western grain, joining a chorus of farm groups and a vocal
minority of farmers.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce passed a resolution at its annual
meeting saying all Canadian farmers should be able to choose how they
sell their grain. The chamber proposes a pilot project to test the idea.
"We're really asking for parity with the rest of the country and
the ability to choose," said Jan Fisher, a member of the chamber
representing Red Deer, Alta., who successfully pushed the resolution
calling for an open grain market.
The Canadian Wheat Board is the sole agency authorized under federal
law to sell certain grains, including wheat, for 85,000 farmers in
Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and parts of British Columbia. Outside
that region, farmers are allowed to sell their own grain.
A number of farm groups and foreign trade representatives have
attacked the monopoly agency, saying it hinders trade and the
development of grain-based industry in the West.
Recently, the United States and Europe have complained the board
provides illegal export subsidies to Canadian wheat farmers.
"At this moment, all Canadian supply-management systems are
under scrutiny by the rest of the world, particularly by the United
States," said Nancy Hughes Anthony, president and CEO of the
chamber.
"We're not calling for an abolition or demolition of the wheat
board, but I think there is a division of opinion in the industry. There
are definitely some producers who think we have to let market forces go
and they should get the chance to demonstrate the success of that."
The board has long been a source of controversy in the West, where a
vocal minority of farmers have mobilized for the right to sell their own
grain.
However, anti-monopoly farmers failed in a referendum in 1997 and
wheat-board elections in 2002 to gain control of the agency. Eight of
the 10 farmer-elected directors of the wheat board favour the monopoly.
"We are controlled by farmers, they give us our legitimacy and
our direction," said wheat board chairman Ken Ritter, who once
stood against the monopoly.
"The wheat board makes an easy political target, but when people
examine the practical realities they tend to see it our way. It's more
myth than reality."
Defenders of the wheat board say it gives all farmers more leverage
in international markets than they could have on their own.
"I've had producers from the U.S. come and say, 'If you think
the wheat board is screwing you, just wait until the big companies have
their way,"' said Terry Hildebrandt, president of the Agricultural
Producers Association of Saskatchewan.
Hildebrandt said the wheat board issue has taken a back seat to trade
problems with the United States and the ongoing mad cow crisis which has
crippled exports and devastated the Canadian cattle industry.
The Canadian Wheat Board is the world's largest single seller of
wheat and barley, holding more than 20 per cent of the international
markets. The wheat board accumulates annual export sales of $4 billion
to $6 billion to 70 countries. |
