The Dream World Of Wayne Easter

Wayno is an ignorant prick.

These politicians have the market sewn up on 'the dream world' living space. Why in Canada is it so difficult to just do what is economically responsible?

Never have so few protected so much pork barreling for so many.

From 64,400 to 147,700 in period of less than ten years. That is quite a jump for a tax payer funded position. Are there are other positions within the goverment that have seen such large increase in pay?

Seems a little ridiculous to me

Prior to entering Parliament, Mr. Easter was the chief officer/spokesman for the National Farmers Union. An organization that to my knowledge has never favoured Prairie farmer freedom to market their wheat.

Mr Easter displayed the typical arrogance that is so prevalant in the liberal party.

"So do I."
Shot back the tooth fairy.
"Me Three!" said the fat red-nosed elf; and Trudeau's rotting corpse smiled and went back to it's contented sleep.

Good expose of the Liebral pork barrel and the lengths of lying and cheating that they'll go to to preserve their trough.

and Trudeau's rotting corpse smiled and went back to it's contented sleep.
Chuckle, chuckle, ho-ho. Good one.

Expose the bastard for what he truly is: a limousine liberal. I'm sure he loves the smell of Castro's ass too.

Thanks Kate, because, as we all know, this is the kind of thing you will NEVER see or read from CBC.

Please understand, I am not a farmer and I don't know a single prarie farmer. And, as a conservative, I fully believe in the right of people to sell what they produce on the open market and the very concept of the Wheat Board and its forced monopoly is repugnant to me.

But, I do have honest questions about this topic. Please don't jump on me for what may prove to be ignorance of the facts...I am really curious to know.

Is it not true that, in Pierre Trudeau's time, western farmers used to complain about the Wheat Board's monopoly - using the same arguments that they do today (which I think are correct)? Specifically, didn't they used to claim that the existence of the Wheat Board was contrary to the premise of "free enterprise"?

If I understand correctly, Trudeau's answer to them went along the lines of, "Don't talk to me about 'free enterprise'. We haven't had free enterprise in this country since we started bailing you farmers out with federal subsidies when times are tough."

Once again - please undestand - I am not a supporter of Trudeau or his policies in any way, shape, or form. But, that argument does have a good point buried in it. You can't want to be totally independent to sell at the best price you can get when times are good unless you are also willing to take the loss independently when the best price you can get is crappy.

And I don't think that the argument "Other countries subsidize their famers" is a good one. I would say that that goes along the lines of "If your friend jumped off of a bridge..."

If I am missing something here - please let me know.

The arrogance of Easter, and Liberals in general, knows no bounds. Did he say this with a straight face?
What does Easter produce on his 'farm' that he brags so much? In The House he only produces CO2 and it sounds as if it is the same in Committee. His being president of the NFU points to the fact that his 'farm' experience is mostly in telling others how to do their production. With all his 'off farm' jobs, who is running his enterprise? I doubt if he rushes home after a hard day in The House to milk his cows, etc. With what he is getting from the taxpayer of Canada he can more than afford someone to do his 'farming'. Real farmers hold down off the farm jobs with their farming. Sad--Easter has no concept of real farming except to slurp at the trough.

I see where you're coming from bryceman, and I've had lots of conversations with a co-worker who comes from a farming background with regards to this.

The "Other countries subsidize their farmers" is applicable, because much of the wheat that is grown in Canada sold internationally. Ideally, I would like to see my grocery bill go up (to cover the actual costs it takes to produce the food) and by tax bill go down (by not funding administrative nightmare's like CAIS). Unfortunately, without subsidizing farmers in Canada, farmers would be unable to sell their grains internationally at competitive prices.

The existence of the Wheat Board isn't the problem. It's the union-like, forced membership of western farmers that is the problem. Eastern farmers can sell their wheat and barley as they please. Strahl and Co.'s plan to get rid of mandatory membership gives those enterprising farmers who want to market their own grain the ability to do so, while leaving the CWB intact to provide the international bargaining power it provides many farmers.

This just goes to point out the real power of the PM in Canada. The ability to appoint people to cushy jobs in one of many government monopolies or whatever. This is why we see appointments of Liberal friendly media types such as Munson, Clarkson, et al.

The government should begin a withdrawal from everything basically. There should be a hiring freeze in all gov't dept's except the "Essentials" and let all these freeloading departments die a slow death through attrition.

Bryceman,

I hope you don't get jumped for your comments/questions. I tend to agree with your assumption in that there are some good points about having something like the wheat board to help you through tough times. It seems to be something of an insurance policy against a weak market.

The problem is that, if it's a net benefit to farmers, why does participation have to be mandatory? And why is it limited to western farmers only?

It seems to me that there's an easy solution: Increase the mandate to apply to the entire country and make participation voluntary. At the same time, be very clear that, should you choose to opt out, don't expect a bail-out from the feds should things go awry.

Bryceman, I think you are missing the principal this article is discussing. Market timing favours wheat right now and farmers can't sell because of the Wheat Board. This is complicated by the necessity to sell other grain products at low prices to make up for their cash flow problems, thus exacerbating their economic failings. They will surely need assistance from the taxpayer later on because of this.
Whose Wheat is it anyway?

Perspective...

For comparison with the "industries" I know best:
A type I Canada Research Chair in engineering, for universities outside the hot spots of Toronto / Vancouver (where the universities are forced to supplement) makes less ...after 20 to 30 years of intensive training/work in their field.

Senior tech management (below CEO) in SMEs make about this...usually also after ~20yrs in their field.

Politics - a high paying occupation demanding few qualifications. Ideal candidates being demagogues with silver spoons.

Term limits...

Rob R:

The suggestion of making participation in the Wheat Board voluntary bothers me a little because I would think that you would see farmers signing on when free market prices were low and getting out when prices made it better for them to walk away from the board.

I am tempted to take the position that it should be all or nothing (preferably nothing) when it comes to the Wheat Board.

As far as the subsidies go, I guess if "everyone else is doing it", then we have to do it to. But, I can't say I like it. It goes against free-enterprise principles too.

I was told of a farmer who moved from the UK to southern Saskatchewan, and purchased a fairly large tract of land at what he thought was an unbelievable price.

Then he found out what the wheat prices were.

So, he contacted his former buyer in Britain, and arranged to sell him his wheat privately, at a price that was several times the order of what he would get from the elevator.

Until he was told that to do so was against the law.

I don't think that the existing wheat board should be shut down, I think it should be privatized. In the process, the government should strike a deal with the new private entity that roughly reflects the realpolitik of the industry. So, for those who want the status quo, they have the status quo.

Then, any group of farmers (or non-farmers) who wish to disassociate from the re-formed wheat board and set up an alternative private trading, marketing, distribution, and/or insurance collective should be able to do so under the same terms with the government as the re-formed wheat board.

Finally, *individual* farmers should be free to belong to and/or sell to any of the resulting wheat boards or other collectives, pursuant to clause 2(c) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Monopolies are evil. And we've pretty much gotten rid of them on the free market side (oligopolies are a separate problem). The remaining problem is government, because government is truly the one natural monopoly. There can't be two governments of Canada.

So, if we are to reduce the damage caused by the current wheat board monopoly, we must de-couple it from government. That will free Mr. Smith's hand to do it's invisible work. But we can't just pull the rug out from under the industry, it doesn't work that way.

With my plan, we will have a mechanism by which to evolve the system over time to adjust to changing global market realities, without the current strangulation caused by monopoly bureausclerosis.

There is no doubt in my mind the CWB's time is past due. It is time to kick the doors wide open and let the producers sell their product in an open market. Of course there will be some producers that will go broke but what is happening now isn't working so why not try something new? Producers are the ones who put in the money, the hard work and long hours, not the CWB so producers should be the ones deciding where and how they want to market it.

PS -I know this is off topic, Kate, but it made me smile sadly--I talked to a sales woman from Nova Scotia today and when she asked me where I was from, I said Saskatchewan, and she replied "Is that in Canada?" I replied yes, and she said, "Could you spell that, please?"

Perhaps she just moved to Canada but still...ack.

I'm all for dismantling the Wheat Board or making it non-mandatory as well. People should be able to sell what they make, however they see fit.

And I agree. Subsidies for farmers should go to zero. Tomorrow. Now. Try to ding me at the cash register if you want, but if you want a free market, you had better be willing to dance your tune.

I just want the CWB to open thier books to audit. So what if half of eastern Canada goes to jail.

"Finally, *individual* farmers should be free to belong to and/or sell to any of the resulting wheat boards or other collectives, pursuant to clause 2(c) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms."

That's an interesting take. Someone launched a court challenge that said that the public monopoly on health care violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; couldn't the same be done with the CWB?

Farmers do not get a subsidy form the CWB. The CWB so often costs the farmers money. I have no problem with the farmer getting cash through insurance programs like the rest of us would if disaster hit, but to connect subsidies to the CWB is ludicrous.

wayne easter ; the clown behind theodores voice of alvin and the chipmunks, and just as smart. After a recent trip to Sask to help some poor and I mean poor farmers start an alternate means to market their grain from the wheat board I felt truly sorry for them, the communist wheat board has about broke them and assholes like the easterbunny carry on their slimy facade for the good of the people, f.u. easter have a look at these familys and the plane load of young men I rode to Regina with who are coming home from the Alberta oil patch to the pride of communist canada called Saskatchewan! The absolute worst thing in this country are not the murderers they usually kill quickly, it is fu..ing liberals who kill a mans drive and desire to feed his family slowly eventually killing the mans pride something lieberals have absolutly none of! IE: Paul Martin, Wayne Easter Bill Graham on and on.

Two things, here well... maybe three. First, aren't subsidy programs provided independently of the Wheat Board monopoly? If subsidies are occasionally necessary to compete internationally and bring some stability to the ag industry, do they need to be connected to the Wheat Board or its monopoly? I don't think so.

Second, the justification for the existence of the Wheat Board monopoly seems to be that it puts more money in farmer's pockets overall. The true test of this would be that individual farmers who lose under this system can be compensated such that there are no net losers and everybody is better off than they would be, had there been no Wheat Board. If this is not possible, well maybe it is because the "more money to farmers" story is just a myth.

Third, that comment of Easter's about the "dream world" is so disrespectful it should be impeachable.

Wheeewww , I read the whole thing......

So, what's to keep some of the profit from the Gov't sold collective wheat sales to go back under the table to the CWB Members ?
,

My one big question about the CWB is what happens to prices when you have thousands of freelance suppliers trying to market their grain independently?

I have a hunch that the answer is lower prices as buyers put out low bids and wait for the hungriest Joe Farmer to come down to the bargain basement.

End result.....lots of broke farmers who were not broke before.

Any bets?

Does the wheat board need the farmers or do the farmers need the wheat board?
If the wheat board is such a good deal for the West why isn't it such a good deal for the East?

Wayne Easter--a do nothing big mouth, with an annoying voice to boot. He has to be the luckiest man alive to earn a salary like that for doing absolutely nothing but be annoying. Only in Canada.

You always see old timers who say that you young fellows don't know what it like before the CWB came along to protect us from the grain companies. And most say the CWB always got a good price for their grain.

I checked into this and found that from the 1945/46 crop to the 1951/52 crop year the CWB paid farmers $1.83425/bu for #1 Northern. In 1952/53 crop yr they got $1.81871/bu.
During these same 8 crop yrs there was drought in western Europe in 1947, which then moved to eastern Europe in 1949. There were also poor crops in North America in 1949. Argentine paid their farmers $1.50/bu and resold the grain in Europe for $5.00/bu.
(Gee, I wonder how much the operating costs for their farm machinery and other farm inputs went up over those 8 yrs?)
The lowest Chicago spot price for wheat during these yrs was $1.81 in 1946 and the highest was $3.09/bu in 1947. Average price was about $2.35/bu.

Western farmers lost out big time. And a lot of the CWB supporters have very bad/selective memories about the grain prices they receieved for their grain.

Then in 1975/76, the CWB withdrew from the world market when prices were at the top of the market again.

Then in 1996/97, the CWB withdrew from the world grain market when prices were at the top again.

Then in 2002/03, the CWB withdrew from the world grain market for months when prices were topping out again. Some ignorant CWB directors even bragged about their marketing prowness. But they lost out big time on the highest wheat prices in years.

So why do does the CWB withdraw from the top grain price markets?
Because their political masters (Liberals)in central Canada demand they withhold the best grain in the world for the food processing sector in Ontario and Quebec. Ontario has 47% of Canada's entire food sector processing, 77% of the entire cereal and flour processing industry, 53% of the baking indutry, 49% of Canada's Brewry industry and Ontario has 64% of the entire Distillery industry in Canada. These all depend on grain inputs and the cheaper the better. Ontario in turn exports much of these products to the US for real US dollars, but buy their western Cdn grain with Canadian money.
Sweet sweet deal eh?

The Liberals have used the cWB as a social program and redistributor of income in Canada.
Paul Martin's CSL hauled grain east and iron ore west. You thimk the CWB has the male parts to tell Martin that farmers should truck their grain across the US border and do his ships out of a two way haul?
Saskatchewan will always be a poor province as long as it allows a bunch of political dough heads and their half baked ideas to run it.
The best thing that could happen is for Sask to throw off the yoke of slavery to the CWB ie, eastern politicians, and individual farmers run things for themselves.

And that's the truth.

The Americans subisdize ag by 20 billion a year and the EU 85 billion. Unfortunately without some kind of subsidy I don't think Canadain farmers could survive those conditions.

The reaction to the Wheat board is probably when Wheat prices are high they grow something else and when the prices are low they grow wheat because the wheat board guarantees them a sale. What is remarkably stupid about this is that prices are low because there is lots around. So the Wheat board adds to the problem. If they weren't subsidized then as prices rise more farmers would produce wheat stabilizing the price and eventually reducing it.

I don't know if corn is a prohibited grain but with oil prices and enviromental pressures corn has become a very in demand ag product for use in fuels.

I do have family in Manitoba and at one time they grew wheat, 30 years ago today they ranch. Farmers and ranchers are a stable hard working lot rarely are they duplicitus unlike our eastern politicians.
Rockyt above pretty much hits the nail on the head.

OMMAG your not grasping the situation, the CWB is already selling the grain for bargain basement prices. It's the monopoly on buying western grain that allows them to get away with it. Get rid of the monopoly and farmgate prices will move up to world prices.

One thing that has been missed in this discussion is that western farmers can only sell their wheat and barley when the CWB says it can, when the CWB opens quotas for said grain. Then farmers are told they can only sell so many bushels per acre alloted to said grain. If you produce 50bus/acre and thruout the year the CWB decides you can only sell 15/per acre, allotted so much at a time, there is nothing you can do but starve and face bankruptcy. Banks still want their pymts on time, regardless of how much grain you have on hand. Same with utility companies, fuel suppliers etc. Wonder how many union workers would work all year and be told they could get paid for a few weeks at a time, every 3/4 months. Even if you take the advance pymt, they want it paid back on time. Canada also sold wheat to GB during the war for a very low price, which they in turn sold at world market prices to finance the war. If the chinese head tax can be repaid, maybe farmers should sue for this money to be repaid. But, all this is to keep food low in Quebec and Ont, and still they bash us in Alberta.

I worked on a cousin's farm and had this "free market" experience. My cousin always hauled his grain to the nearest Wheat Pool elevator, to support the local economy. One day when they didn't have any spare capacity for canola, he chose the "big bad corporate processor", a bit further down the road. Guess what happened?
He got charged LESS for dockage (the actual amount vs. a fixed amt at the "Pool") and was paid MORE $/bushel.
We hauled as many more loads we could that day!.

Hey Kate, Do you remember Eugene Whelan? The chicken farmer. A chicken farmer wearing a big green stetson. My dislike for the Liberals was a result of the MSM fawning over that fool.

When one envisions a meally mouthed weasel of a bureaucrat you could hardly conjure up a more accurate image than that of Wayne Easter. This guy could make the Pope feel dirty just by shaking his hand.

As far as used car salesmen impersonators in parliament Wayne comes second only to Taliban Jack.

Eugene Whelan referring to Africans (and I think those in the immediate vicinity); "Those poeple should all have to wear cowboy hats, cause the sun seems to be baking their brains"!

Yea, I remember!

CRB

The bear has nailed the real issue. When a person watches Wayne easter bunny bouncing around in the house, like he needs to use the men's room, you know that it has nothing to do with the well being of Prairie farmers and has everything to do with millions of $$$ gone missing. Over at Shotgun, Kevin has a post about the oil for food investigations - the Australian Wheat Board is on top of the hit list!! If the WB of Canada opens the WB books all hell will break loose in the Liberano$$ outfit. Waynie could care less about farmers...he is worried about something else...not grain bins; crowbar hotels. It is fun to watch - check the bouncing boy (easterbunny) on QP.

First time i saw wayne easter he reminded me of Ernest T. Bass from the old Andy Griffith show. I think he was Goober's cousin who would emerge from the hills to find a bride, make trouble, etc.
I'm not sure Easter has that much initiative.

''So, he contacted his former buyer in Britain, and arranged to sell him his wheat privately, at a price that was several times the order of what he would get from the elevator.
Until he was told that to do so was against the law.''
Actually, it is not against the law, it just has to be done through the buy back program.
In the interest of disclosure and openness, why don't Carol Skelton and David Anderson reveal how many tens of thousands their farm operations have received in taxpayer subsidies in addition to their taxpayer funded salaries. There's a chart I'd like to see.

Thanks for taking an interest Kate, I honestly didn't think anyone would take much notice of something this lengthy.

bit OT:

time to doff the shoes and find a man Katherine !!! LOL !!!

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&pubid=968163964505&cid=1164625146957&col=968705899037&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News

"barefoot and pregnant" my arse.

liberals are the definition of arrogance; firmly established in the turdeau era.

Mr Penner appears to be well researched on the subject of wheat board meddling.

Vitruvius:
Monopolies are evil?? Canadians LOVE their health care monopoly!

It was a great presentation, Rolf. That's the beauty of the blogosphere - we can link our readers to "the whole thing", instead of just spoonfeeding those portions we think are important (or worse, "interpreting" them) to conform to space limitations.

To put it bluntly to those who do not know, lets say that you built a brick house. You used your hard-earned money to create it and busted your back building it as an investment. When you went to sell, the government said,"We own this house you built. You must sell it through us or buy it from us paying for utilities and salespeople and freight to the coast because we usually export these types of homes overseas." You could have sold it to your neighbour for a large profit because you live in a hot market but through the government you would make roughly 1/2 because the government sells all houses for the same price - that way we can be certain that nobody receives a better price than anyone else for their house. Plus, you will never see the books of this sales team to know if they are actually doing their job and if they aren't, too bad, it's the monopoly and you have no choice (unless you build houses in eastern Canada - then you're exempt).
It's stupid that the CWB owns your grain if you're a western farmer and, even more dumb is this idea that farmers should vote on this. Why should any number of farmers be able to tell one that he has to sell his produce to the board? It borders on communism. I also love the fear mongering. If we get rid of the board, the sky will fall down. Just like if we entered free trade we would all die. Maybe we should have a vote and those who vote to keep the monopoly should be forced to sell through it even if prices are better non-board because that is essentially what they want to make the "no CWB" voters do. I'm sick and tired of someone making me sell my wheat through the CWB because they are afraid that if they don't force me to do so, I'll make more money than them.

It seems that the problem isn't the idea of a Marketing Board, but who is runnung it.

Below, some other successful Marketing Boards and Associations that are Self-Police-ing, as in setting fees(prices charged for servives and products). In some cases it is possible to sell outside of the organization/marketing board(usually at lower Prices). Most choose not to do so or are repremanded by their colleagues.

Dairy Farmers
Egg Producers
Chicken & Turkey Producers
Dentists
Doctors,
Lawyers
Petroleum Producers
Fertilizer Manufactuers
Crop Protection Manufacturers

When a buyer, best to have lots of sellers(shop around, haggle)

When a seller, best to be the only game in town.

But it depends who is running the show.

How do you figure the dairy marketing board is successful? Because the have screwed over more than their fair share of producers? Marketing Boards are a communist crime against hard working people! What a bunch of horse shit!!!!

No claim was made that Marketing Boards are fair, only that they are sucessful for those who they serve.

Recommended reading: Canada's Great Grain Robbery by Don Baron

I really like the wet blanket analogy. Also bothersome is the secrecy behind the CWB.

Make sure theres no tribbles in your feild of QUADROTRIKALIE with visiting SHERMANS PLANET