Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl did what he’d said he’d do: He fired the CEO of the Canadian Wheat Board.
The Conservative government wants to let Western grain farmers sell their wheat and barley to whomever they please. Right now, wheat farmers in the West must sell all their stuff only to the Wheat Board, which markets grain on behalf of farmers. The former CEO of the Wheat Board was Adrian Measner and he had campaigned against the government’s initiative. Strahl had told the Wheat Board to cease and desist that campaign and then later wrote to Measner telling him that he was going to fire him unless Measner could convince why he shouldn’t be fired.
On Dec. 6, Opposition Leader Stephane Dion held a press conference outside the House of Commons where he was flanked by Measner. A few minutes after Dion’s press conference, we asked Strahl what he thought of a governnment appointee holding a press conference outside the House of Commons to critize government policy. Here’s part of Strahl’s response:
“I wrote [Measner] a few days ago saying that, you know, he should explain why he should keep his job. What the job of the — what we need, you know, is a CEO — what farmers want is a CEO that sells grain, maximizes profits for farmers. That's the job is to market grain in an orderly fashion. That is the mandate of the Canadian Wheat Board. That's what the CEO and the management team should be doing. And to, you know, to stand up and do political grandstanding with the leader of the opposition is hardly getting on with the business of selling grain. There's lots of grain this year. It's of premium quality and the prices are the best they've been in 10 years. This is the chance for farmers to finally make some money and what they need is a management team that gets out there and flogs this grain around the world and gets at that job. That is their mandate. That is their job and we need a CEO and we need a management team that does that. “
Apparently Measner was unable to convince Strahl he should keep his job and so today, Strahl fired him. Measner’s replacement is Greg Arason.