A former Canadian Wheat Board director is critical about the lack of information around how CWB will be privatized.
Stewart Wells, who is also chair of the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board, which fought to retain the board’s sales monopoly, suspects the federal government has secret criteria for the sale, including that CWB remain a stand-alone entity for a certain period. That way the government can say it fulfilled its promise to make CWB an option in an open market.
“The federal government is trying to bury this dead skunk as fast as it can and it’s using these CWB assets as a bribe,” Wells said, alluding to reports that whoever buys CWB will get their money back to reinvest in the company.
Read Also
Sharing stories to promote Canadian farm safety
Personal stories can sometimes go farther than facts and data to promote safe practices on Canadian farms, Canadian Agricultural Safety Association conference attendees hear.
What happens to CWB assets matters to farmers because, according to Wells, they belong to farmers. Almost all the wheat board’s revenue was earned while marketing farmers’ grain, he said.
“The Canadian taxpayer has a dog in this battle too,” Wells said referring to the $177 million Ottawa contributed to assist the wheat board transition to an open market.
Wells said he’s surprised Farmers of North America (FNA) wants to buy CWB without having seen its books.
He’s also skeptical that FNA’s proposed grain company would have much impact in the market given its size relative to much bigger competitors.
Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) wants to see as much competition for farmers’ grain as possible, but isn’t publicly endorsing FNA’s plan to buy CWB, said KAP president Doug Chorney.
“We don’t want to put support behind one initiative in case there’s another initiative potentially competing with it comprised of another farmer-ownership option,” he said.
