Nov 22/06: Compensation for Losing CWB Demanded
Category: News
The Canadian government is being called upon to pay western Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) permit holders at least CDN $6 billion if plans to dismantle the board or create a dual track system come to fruition.
Vicki Dutton, who is running as a candidate for the CWB board of directors in District 5, said the government should take the opportunity to redress past wrongs to western Canadian farmers by offering appropriate compensation for the loss of the single desk marketing system.
"If we cannot agree on how we market wheat and barley, let us at least agree that this asset be used as bargaining power going forward," she argues.
"The Conservative Government has an opportunity to right a major wrong caused to western Canadian farmers by the former Liberal Government during the Western Grain Transportation Act (WGTA) payout procedures," Dutton said in a press statement.
"The previous Progressive Conservative party suggested that $7 billion was an appropriate amount to dissolve the obligations under the WGTA; however, the Liberal government allocated a paltry $1.6 billion and farmers have suffered ever since."
Dutton argues, "The writing is on the wall for the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) whether we like it as our marketing
agency or not. It is going to be forced to change -- just as the abolishment of the CROW was forced on
farmers -- and farmers to this day feel that pain.
"If all sides of the CWB continue to argue in the same fashion as the WGTA debate, the end result will look the same -- that farmers argued away a bargaining chip and watched the value disappear over time. We can continue to debate the advantages and disadvantages of the single desk but while we are doing so, the value of the CWB as an entity will diminish -- just as it did in the WGTA debate."
Vicki Dutton, who is running as a candidate for the CWB board of directors in District 5, said the government should take the opportunity to redress past wrongs to western Canadian farmers by offering appropriate compensation for the loss of the single desk marketing system.
"If we cannot agree on how we market wheat and barley, let us at least agree that this asset be used as bargaining power going forward," she argues.
"The Conservative Government has an opportunity to right a major wrong caused to western Canadian farmers by the former Liberal Government during the Western Grain Transportation Act (WGTA) payout procedures," Dutton said in a press statement.
"The previous Progressive Conservative party suggested that $7 billion was an appropriate amount to dissolve the obligations under the WGTA; however, the Liberal government allocated a paltry $1.6 billion and farmers have suffered ever since."
Dutton argues, "The writing is on the wall for the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) whether we like it as our marketing
agency or not. It is going to be forced to change -- just as the abolishment of the CROW was forced on
farmers -- and farmers to this day feel that pain.
"If all sides of the CWB continue to argue in the same fashion as the WGTA debate, the end result will look the same -- that farmers argued away a bargaining chip and watched the value disappear over time. We can continue to debate the advantages and disadvantages of the single desk but while we are doing so, the value of the CWB as an entity will diminish -- just as it did in the WGTA debate."
