Canadian Wheat Board sues government over bill to end its monopoly
Farm and Ranch October 28, 2011 The Canadian Wheat Board’s farmer-controlled board of directors has announced it’s filed a lawsuit against the Canadian federal government for legislation introduced into Parliament that will end the Board’s marketing monopoly on wheat and barley. The suit states that the government broke the law when it introduced the legislation earlier this month because it did not first conduct a plebiscite of affected producers as required by the Canadian Wheat Board Act. Wheat Board Chairman Allen Oberg told a news conference that removing the CWB single-desk selling will harm Canada’s agricultural economy by transferring profits and power to large, foreign-owned grain corporations. Oberg: “Canada is the last country where huge multi-nationals cannot source wheat or barley. When the CWB is gone that will change forever. Western Canadian will be added to the corporate inventory while prairie farmers lose the benefit of being direct sellers. And the Americans will finally win what they have been fighting decades to get. The Harper government is handing it to them on a silver platter with Canada receiving absolutely nothing in return.” Because of its monopoly marketing power the U.S. wheat industry has long seen the Canadian Wheat Board as an unfair competitor in the world wheat market. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net. ? ?
