Those Pesky Properties

Sure makes you wonder what would be uncovered if we had access to the CWB via the Freedom of Information Act doesn't it?

Lies, all lies! Look at the font! The CWB didn't even have typewriters that could make text like that in October of 2006.

Obviously this hoax was fabricated by Bush to further his plan to steal our wheat.

1.what does KAP stand for?

2. Do you think the Winnipeg Free Press will report it? Or the Star Phoenix?

BUSTED!

amazing the corruption in all these great canadian institutions (sarcasm) having been run with liberal governments and people like Mulrony at the head of gov't for more than a generation, what's to be expected? Clear cut the whole organization by now its rotten to the core.

Kate,
You must be thankful for the CWB. How do you think Canadian farmers produce wheat that is made into such tasty snacks as saltines and twinkies that you can munch on while you are waiting in line for thirty six hours in the Emergency Room? Only because of the CWB.

/sarcasm

BTW, I was in Saskatoon over the weekend (it's just a giant Lethbridge!) and noticed the little traffic switch boxes on the corners that are painted with faces, scenes, etc. If you look at the one that used to say "Tommy Douglas" and notice that it now says "Commy Douglas" you can thank Doug for that.

The CWB is so successful that farmers of oats, corn, potatoes, canola, rye, mustard and flax are all demanding that the federal government extend the powers of the Board to their crops also. Farmers in Ontario and Quebec, in particular, want the powers of the Board extended to their provinces also. They are storming Parliament Hill with their pitchforks demanding immediate action.

Taxpayers around the country are also grateful that a huge bureacracy called the CWB has been set up in Winnipeg since they do not have any other uses for their money. Clearly, the CWB is a winner for everyone...

the cwb has only two mandates. cheap food for the masses and when i comes to the farmers equal poverty for all. i recently sold 18000 bushel of #3 durum through the board and received 19000 dollars more or less. if i had been able to sell that same batch on the open market i would have received 49000. the board says that this is only the intial price but they can't even offer us as good a price as we get for feed..... some system.

I wonder how many union members would like to get paid the way farmers do. Lets try it. First, in March or April you tell your employer how many hour you will work, and fill out a permit book stating same. Don't forget to detail how many hours you will do a specific job. Then in april or may, you start your job. No paycheck till the fall. Then, in the goodness of their heart, your boss says, well, we will give you an initial payment for your work, based on what you said you would do. Several months later they give you another paycheque, and mabey 2 years later they give you a final payment for what you did years ago. But, if you have reneged on any job, the price goes down. If you decide to take a side job, you will go to jail. It takes 3 crop years for a farmer to get all his money. Crop year is from Aug 1st-July 31st. So, you seed in one, harvest in the next and get paid in the next when they tell you how much you can sell. The first change should be a crop year from Jan-Dec. The reference to a side job, is when farmers sold some of their own wheat, without going thru the CWB. (side job) and went to jail for it. Those poor border guards who keep walking off the job would never survive if paid like farmers. Every walkout would be a loss of grade and pay.

Gord: KAP=Keystone Agricultural Producers, a large lobbyist on agricultural matter.

OH MY GAWD!! This is SO MUCH WORSE that taking 16,000 farmers off the voters list (in order to try and win a vote by cheating!!!!!).

Get real. Your indignation is ridiculous. The real cheating is being done by Harper.

Gee leftdog, you forgot to blame Bush too. Idiot!

Leftdog..get your facts straight..16,000 non producing voters..repeat after me..the Conservatives separated the wheat ......

You know I have never been "long changed", given too much money in change, only short changed. And when it comes to fake advertising and exaggerated commercial claims, it has not been organizations representing producers, whether workers or farmers, that seem to be in the busines of puffing up with fake outrage and hiding behind fake claims. It has always been the private interests who do that sort of thing. And here we have a sort of megaphone for private interests in a farm sector, making a claim against producers that their statements actually come from the CWB. I looked up KAP and its web page had a severe denial, stating that the piece had been researched and developed up by 3 agricultural producer groups, and had gone through many drafts. Not surprizingly some of their data did come from the source of most data in this sector, the single desk operator CWB. So would quite a bit of the data used by any commentator on this sector. So what is new? Nothing, just another attempt to short change the public by a private booster, in this case the Barley bunch.

If the CWB is such a boon for producers then they it and its supporters should have nothing to fear if free trade is allowed as they will still be the best option.

It reminds me of the TELCOS saying that their systems were clearly so much better than any potential competitor's could be that it was better fot the consumer that the monopoly be left in place. The surprising thing was that many consumers did in fact believed the TELCOS side of the argument - just like many grain farmers support the CWB and supported the Crow Rate when it was around.

Whoops! The denial is on the postings at Agriville Com, not the main web page of KAP. My error. And it seems the thousands of producers of KAP are joined in this denial by Wild Rose, Agric. producers of Sask, and the National Famers Union. Is that the "these people" you have so contemptuously disparaged?

FYI: We have not had a CWB permit book since 1998, as we sold our farm, as did our son. That is 3 names taken off the list as we have not produced any wheat for 7 years. Farmers have died, sold, retired etc and therefore have finally been removed from the list. Up until just a few wks ago, we still received all the mailouts, financial reports etc. Just think of the savings in postage and paper by this action.
I am sure that Don Newman had to google the CWB before he talked to Minister Strahl. I bet if Volpe new about those non producers he would have signed them up as members, and put them on his delegate list. If these 16,000 farmers were allowed to vote, illegally, listen to the cries.
We always supported the Wheat Board, and still get into arguments over it. Those that oppose it are usually the 3rd generation farmers, who inherited it, or as my husband says married it, and started out with no land pymts, a full line of machinery, and bins full of grain, think they can do a better job of selling the grain for a better price. The biggest difference today is that when we and our parents were farming we did not have the monthly bills farmers do today. Power, phone, utilities, food and bank pymts. to name a few. Many of those opposing the Board should talk to american grain farmers and discover that the price can change during the time you are unloading your grain and they get the lower price.

I have no direct interest in the CWB. I'd like to know if the "open market" truely would pay better than the pooled resources of the BOARD?

I would think there is the danger of a
"divide and conquer" strategy pitting producers against each other. And of course smaller producers gets less attractive terms than larger ones.

Seen it before.

Having family in farming in Sask and AB, I have to agree with the concensus here........THE WB SUCKS....Time for a free market for farmers!

The canadian wheat board only handles two grains, wheat and barley. All other grains are NOT sold through the cwb. What do we need them for then? Like the fellow above stated he could have received 31,000 more for his durum had he not had to go through the cwb. All i say is give me dual marketing. I took the risk growing the stuff i should atleast be able to market it the way i market my canola, peas, flax, canary etc. anyhing short of that is communisum. No wonder talleban jack ben leighton is in favor of the wheat board, the commy. I might also add that only the western canadian farmers are forced to sell through the cwb. reason number two to dump the thing or give us dual marketing. anything else is criminal!

The thing that seems to be forgotten by a lot of people is that there is no intention by anyone to abolish the wheat board. Only taking away it's monopoly on Western Canadian produce. That way a farmer can sell through the wheat board, or if he wants, sell it independantly. Notice that farmers in central Canada are not required to sell through the wheat board. Why should western farmers not have the same freedom?

The last time I looked the CWB had the outright lie still posted on their website which stated that their mandate was to 'maximize returns to the producer'. That has never, ever been their mandate, and if it was written down as their mandate, they would have had their ass sued off years ago. The first mandate of the present politically active CWB management is get the Liberals re-elected and continue their gravy train. They do this by controlling the stocks of grain in Canada to make food as cheap as possible for central Canada's Liberal voters.
Question: How do you know the world grain market is peaking in price?
Answer: Because the CWB has stopped selling grain to the world market. They have never sold Cdn grain at the top of the market, except by accident.

At a meeting re the CWB years ago, with several head honchos there, I presented an option that would ensure that farmers got the top price. My suggestion was, Pay CWB employees and Board members a percentage of the price of the grain they sell. When prices go down, they take a cut, because they made the decision to sell at the wrong time. If prices go up, they get a raise. They would be paid on a monthly basis, based on the price for that month. Should have heard the reaction. That started other farmers asking questions, like, why can't you take the risks like we have to, etc. There are other costs in selling grain, and over 30% of your grain cheque from the grain company you sell to goes to freight, elevation, cleaning, and other charges.
If you sell 3,000.00 worth of wheat, expect a cheque of about 2,100.
Talk to farmers who want a free market, and you will find that they also want the option of the CWB, in case the price is better. They are not prepared to make a choice, one or the other.

Regarding farmers are not prepared to make a choice in marketing their grain, a few years ago in the local barber shop, a lively discussion took place with the CWB supporter challenging me to sign a contract that i would give up my right forever to sell grain to the CWB if it was a open market. I said 'Where do I sign Big Boy?'
The reality is that almost anyone today could kick the CWB's pathetic marketing butt into space. Their prime mandate is to re-elect Liberals, not to sell grain. Look at Meisner's comment about downtown Winnipeg becoming a ghost town. Big deal, if he travelled the Prairies he would realize that most of the Prairies have become a big ghost town, while under the control of the CWB.
The CWB is the most over-rated marketing piece of junk in the universe. After WW II, there was drought in western Europe, which then moved to Eastern Europe. Then there was series of poor crops in North America. The brilliant marketing boys at the CWB were locked into a 4 yr contract that paid western grain farmers $1.67/bu for CWRS wheat. Estimates put that loss to western Canada at over $7.0 billion in todays money. Meanwhile the Argentine government stole grain from their farmers at $1.50/bu and resold it to post war Europe at over $5/bu. Do I smell a snake in CWB secrecy in Canada? Actually historical documents show that the CWB was used by the feds in Ottawa to buy influence in the reconstruction of Europe at the time. Which did nothing for western farmers. Ritter and the boys do not want a dual market because farmers would be immediately questioning as to why the CWB wasn't getting better prices for their grain.

RockyT. Time for wester farmers to demand full payment for the grain they sold to Europe and Great Britain at about 1.00/bushel who in turn sold it on the open market for big bucks. That is how much of europe and britain paid for the war and the rebuilding. If the chinese can get money for head tax, the natives for treaty deals, the natives for school abuse, we should get ours.

" RockyT. Time for wester farmers to demand full payment for the grain they sold to Europe and Great Britain at about 1.00/bushel who in turn sold it on the open market for big bucks. That is how much of europe and britain paid for the war and the rebuilding. If the chinese can get money for head tax, the natives for treaty deals, the natives for school abuse, we should get ours.

Posted by: maryT at October 24, 2006 07:24 PM"

You have an EXCELLENT point there!...headtax my ass.