The federal government wants to break up the ‘single-desk’ system for the marketing of wheat and barley that Western Canadians must use. Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl announced last week that Western Canadian farmers will vote on the issue so far as barley goes in a vote that will take place from Jan. 31 to March 6. The question that will be put to farmers in that vote has not yet been made public but will be sometime before Jan. 31, a spokesman for Strahl’s office told me tonight.
Late today, Strahl also announced that Ottawa will conduct a plebiscite on the marketing of wheat but that vote will happen “at an appropriate time.” Strahl affirmed that “Western Canadian farmers have the Government’s commitment that no changes will be made in the Canadian Wheat Board’s role in the marketing of wheat until after that vote is held.”
This latest announcement from Strahl follows on the heels of an announcement earlier in the day by the government of Manitoba that reported the result’s of Manitoba’s own plebiscite.:
“Independent accounting firm Meyers Norris Penny today released the final results of the provincially- administered vote on the wheat board’s single desk. Wheat and barley producers voted 61.8 per cent in favour of retaining the single desk for barley, while 69.5 per cent voted in favour of retaining the single desk for wheat. Sixty-five per cent of eligible voters participated.”
The spokesman for Strahl’s office tonight pointed out that the question Manitoba put to farmers was an “all-or-nothing” proposal, in which farmers were essentially asked if they favoured the elimination of the Canadian Wheat Board. The spokesman, Conrad Bellehumeur, noted that the federal government does not wish to eliminate the wheat board but wishes to offer farmers the choice of finding their own organization to market their grains or use the Wheat Board.
“Our vision is to have the Wheat Board as a viable option,” Bellehumeur told me. “We don’t want to eliminate the Wheat Board.”
Bellehumeur also notes that Manitoba is home to about 10 per cent of all Western Canadian barley farmers and 14 per cent of wheat farmers.