An Open Letter

To:       Art Maclin, Incumbent Alberta CWB Director
Larry Hill, Incumbent Alberta CWB Director
John Clair, Incumbent Alberta CWB Director

Jim Chatenay, elected CWB Director for District 2 in Alberta, seems to have landed himself in some hot water with the rest of the CWB.  Appears Jim has been asking questions, too many questions in fact, about the accumulated borrowing the CWB has done, and the Auditor General’s report.

Answers that would be readily available in a real company.

The CWB is a $4 billion company, does 90% of its business on a cash basis,  yet in 98-99 the CWB borrowed or churned $85 billion dollars.  Who is getting rich from this massive flurry of financial activity?  And why did the Auditor General not get to see a single sales contract?

These were the questions that Chatenay was asking on behalf of the producers of District 2.

I had a chance to speak to Chatenay on June 17^th.  He told me was off to Winnipeg for the CWB monthly Board meeting, and it was a meeting he wasn’t looking forward to.  With good reason.  Meeting him in Winnipeg were 13 CWB directors and staff, and for the next two hours it was ‘let’s get Jim Chatenay.’

Apparently the focus of the Board of Directors has changed.  There is no legislative protocol to dismiss a populous elected director and termination would be too risky politically, after all there are elections this fall.  The plan now seems to be to bully Chatenay out of the board room, making life so miserable and uncomfortable that he will have to quit.

The good news is that Chatenay will never quit.  The bad news is he has been forbidden to travel outside of District 2 during the fall election campaign.

Chatenay is the most popular director in Western Canada, elected with 69% majority in District 2 and representing 52% of the pro-choice popular vote in the last election.  Forbidding him to travel outside District 2 during the CWB fall election campaign is censorship, plain and simple.  He is delivering a message the CWB doesn’t want producers to here.

Well here’s a message BACK from the producers in District 2:

The producers of District 2 will not stand idly by while the CWB uses and abuses our Director.  We demand a show of respect for both Jim Chatenay and the producers of District 2.

And while we are on the subject of telling it like it is:

The Liberal dominated Agriculture Standing Committee in Ottawa has recommended an end to the CWB’s assumed monopoly.  The CWB responded with grave concerns.  Once dismantled, they said, under terms of NAFTA, the monopoly could not be reconstructed

Here is how the NAFTA text reads:

Another half-truth from the CWB?

For years the CWB has led us to believe a change in legislation was required in order to issue no-cost export permits.  We discovered export permits are required all across Canada.  The CWB issues export permits to pedigree seed growers, manufactured feed companies, like Cargill, and any producer living in areas other than Manitoba, Saskatchewan or Alberta, thereby discriminating against it’s own producers!

The CWB has the discretionary power to issue no-cost export permits to anyone, anytime, for any reason (see the “In Depth” section of Canadian Farmers for Justice webpage: http://www.farmersforjustice.com for more information.)  There is no legislative mandate to withhold no-cost export permits from producers.  It is simply forced policy at the CWB.

On June 10^th in a Lethbridge court room, Judge Langston issued Warrants of Committal for three Alberta farmers.  For failing to possess a valid CWB export permit, they will be required to serve 17 days per $1000 fine before October 31^st.

By extension the CWB is responsible for jailing Alberta farmers, in this case for exporting eight dollars (yes - $8) worth of barley to Montana (see the June 12, 2002 News Release of Canadian Farmers for Justice webpage: http://www.farmersforjustice.com for more information.)  The upcoming CWB elections are going to make for an interesting fall in Alberta.  Because what it comes down to is this:

A vote for Art Maclin, Larry Hill or John Clair is a vote to throw farmers in jail.

Sincerely,

Colleen Bianchi, Canadian Farmers for Justice, 403-344-4473
Ron Duffy, Canadian Farmers for Justice, 403-885-5190
Art Mainil, Canadian Farmers for Justice, 306-634-8009
Jim Ness, Alberta farmer being thrown in jail, 403-577-2265
Darren Winczura, Alberta farmer being thrown in jail, 403-336-1007
Rod Hanger, Alberta farmer being thrown in jail, 403-443-7018