THAT is a thing of beauty.

That is the kind of role that the media should be playing every day. That this bureaucrat assumes that he'll play 'wink, wink - nudge, nudge' is perhaps a sign of how prevalent this kind of thing is in the media industry. However, high praises for this editor who has the integrity (and good sense) to reply as he did.

One would think that one who goes by the title of "CWB Communications Consultant" would have a clue about (1) how to write a letter to the editor, and (2) how to deal with the editor (in my experience, their suggestions, though there have been few, have always made my letters better).

Evidently not. Or perhaps it's just that Ms. Trayne found the facts to be inconvenient to her argument.

I'm seeing Heather's line of thinking in schools every day. Boy, are we in for a rude awakening. She clearly states that she's not being above board and is counting on newspaper editors to join her in her--nudge, nudge, wink, wink--and her employers' campaign against Chuck Strahl.

There's absolutely NO professionalism in her negotiations, just a complicit and entitled sense that she and her cause are absolutely right and that any tactic is OK to forward it. Some "communications consultant (acting)." The only part she gets right about her position is the "acting" part--and it stinks.

The word hussy comes to mind: a wanton or impudent girl or woman (Canadian Oxford Dictionary).

The Ontario farmers also deliver all their grain from the combine and dont have a kings ransom of steel storage facilities to keep their crop till someone decides to sell it.These storage bins dont mean much at three percent interest rates but they sure pushed a lot of farmers off the land at twenty percent interest rates.

Nothing in the cororate world is done in isolation. That goes for the CWB as well.
Since they are working to undermine thier boss, he has one effective recourse. Fire them, the whole kit and kaboodle!

Wonder is this woman is a member of the Women are Angry group. Are they still in operation.

I followed her example right up until the part where she was adding the freight cost to get the wheat to the mill rather than subtracting it.

So, just out of curiosity, exactly why should a prairie farmer be forced to deliver to the CWB only to have the Board turn it around and sell the wheat to the pasta plant up the road from him? Especially if, the pasta plant is happy to by it directly from the farmer for slightly more than the pooled price because they don't have to pay to ship?

Andrew; that wouldnt be fair.To who I'm not sure but it would'nt be fair.

Election is On??

Kate,

sorry for the OT (no current reader tips and this one is big),

Political Staples has it that Harper has rented the election buses - it's a go.

Here:

http://www.politicalstaples.com/2007/02/14/fire_up_the_buses.html

Is this her? href="http://www.writersunion.ca/f/frayne_h.htm

I'm agreeing with Shane O...I'm not surprised that the CWB propagandist can presuppose that the media will play a game of deceive the public. I'm grateful that the editor had the moral fortitude and integrity to overcome the inane assumptions of this snivel servant.
BTW...I'm the real "Biff (note the spelling)...all other biff's are imposters~!

Seems Heather F. is having "one of those days".

http://melaman2.com/cartoons/looney/0-roadrunner/roadrunner-42.jpg

OH WHAT A TANGLED CWB WE WEAVE ,WHEN WE FIRST PRACTICE TO DECEIVE.

Walter Scott.

The point to be made here is that she, of the CWB secret society, expected this little matter to be taken care of by a once friendly media.
And for a way too many years in the past, it was.

Just ask me about complaining about how the CWB and their friends used to operate.

I had NFU members come to my door and tell me that any future letters that I wrote had to be cleared with them first.

I told them to buy their own pencil and paper and write their own damn letters, if they could.

And the Western Producer (Dryden) told me to bug off.

Three cheers for the blogs and SDA.

"Heather Frayne began her writing career as a journalist, working for many years as a radio and television producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation."

Can't be too many 'Heather Fraynes' working in Canadian journalism. Looking at the above quote from the "Writers Union", I don't think I need say more.

If i was Chuck i would have Flaten`s & Frayne`s asses fired out the door...who the hell do they think they are?

Andrew said: "So, just out of curiosity, exactly why should a prairie farmer be forced to deliver to the CWB only to have the Board turn it around and sell the wheat to the pasta plant up the road from him? Especially if, the pasta plant is happy to by it directly from the farmer for slightly more than the pooled price because they don't have to pay to ship?"

Are there "Pasta" plants in Sask or are they in the East?
Sorry for the ignorance, but I would suspect they are in the East.

How many, if any, papers published her first letter. Did those papers get any response from farmers. Congratulations to that Ont editor.

Are there "Pasta" plants in Sask or are they in the East?
Sorry for the ignorance, but I would suspect they are in the East.

They would be in the west if it wasn't for the CWB.

HFL: "They would be in the west if it wasn't for the CWB."

Same as with the Dairy industry.

Now one can see why it is so important we keep the CWB. It would be natural to move the processor plants closer to the product source otherwise. Lower cost products as well and more internationally competitive industry. Not in Canader you say?
If the CWB falls, the rest might go down like dominoes.

Heather Trayne must be into some strange stuff, cuz she sure likes getting spanked in public.

There was a Catelli plant in Lethbridge for years. Recently sold to foreigners and closed.
Farmers have tried for years to get pasta plants in southern alberta. Some have invested thousands of dollars for shares, but the plants never materialized. Something to do with zoning, permits and the NIMBY syndrome. So many processing jobs have been lost or moved elsewhere because of those city people who think milk comes in a carton, and meat from safeway.

Interesting. The CWB was advertising to hire a temporary communications consultant a couple of weeks ago. Sounds like this job was probably dedicated to spin-doctoring and damage control on the marketing choice issue and Ms. Frayne got the job.

the CWB offered eastern mills No.1 CWRS with 13.5 per cent protein for $230.47 per tonne at Thunder Bay. Add to this freight charges of $25 from Thunder Bay to the mill, and the landed price equals $255.47 per tonne or $6.95 per bushel.

She is either very new to her position or trying to put some serious spin on things.

Sheila Fraser needs to spend a month or two at the CWB offices to get to the bottom of all this.

come on guys give poor heather a break...chuck has her under stress and she probably needs another 1000 dollar bonus at our expense.lol

It seems to me that farmers in Sask were trying to start a Co-op type pasta plant or something like that (might have been bread), but they would have had to sell their wheat to CWB and then buy it back from them to do their value added thing.

Anyone else remember anything about that? It was maybe 15 years ago or so.

I move that the editor be given a $500 bonus.

--

Johnboy - that's correct, as far as I know.

I nominate that editor for Best of The Best in Canadian publishing!

Can we find more like him??

HFL: "They would be in the west if it wasn't for the CWB."

Gunney99 "Same as with the Dairy industry."

If you look at the west the rural population was growing til the CWB became manditory. In 3 provinces not Quebec or BC,...

someone has a letter in the western standard saying MB, alta, and Sask need to be forced to stay in the CWB course they are from BC which I think has a few acres of wheat.

If Ontario isn't in why doesn't that make the CWB collapse?

One wonders which "Member of Parliament" Ms. Frayne works for. Any bets that it isn't a Conservative?

I'd say a Liberal is most likely given her penchant for wanting to distort the truth, or perhaps an NDP'er if she's stupid enough to actually believe in the Wheat Board.

One wonders which "Member of Parliament" Ms. Frayne works for. Any bets that it isn't a Conservative?

I'd say a Liberal is most likely given her penchant for wanting to distort the truth, or perhaps an NDP'er if she's stupid enough to actually believe in the Wheat Board.

Like most editors it seems this individual can dish it out but he can't take it, and, also as usual he would rather turn somersaults with the facts than let it pass. I have never understood why, in a society where we are all familiar with pencils that have erasers on one end, dimbulbs like this editor you quote, just can't line up like the rest of us. The bus also cometh for him.

Garhane... are you on the right thread?

Frayne's math is wrong. The price western farmers would get is the Thunder Bay price not it plus the cost of transportation to the Ontario mill. Then you have to deduct the CWB's administration costs before knowing what the farmer would get. The Ontario mills would buy CWB wheat when no Ontario spring wheat was left and a lot of the wheat grown in Ontario is winter wheat which is used for pasta etc.
.

johnboy, You might be thinking of the Prairie Pasta Producers, which took place in the late 90's. They wanted to establish a new generation coop, where farmers would own the pasta plant and deliver their durum directly to their plant.

CWB said, Nope, not unless you sell it to us first and then buy it back.

PPP said, well, what will the buy-back amount be?

CWB said, oh, who knows, just trust us.

PPP said, it ain't gonna work.

And, it never did.

Heather Trayne should take a math lesson. 255 per ton = 6.95 per bu. 230 per ton = 6.26 per bu. 4.40 per bu. =161 per ton. How does she account for the other 2.26 per bu.

I believe there was a pasta plant at Mossbank, sask. that failed due to cwb and their policy on buy backs of durum wheat....I'm going to say 15-20 years ago

heather could use a math lesson. 6.95 per bu.=255per ton. 6.26 per bu.=230 per ton. 4.40 per bu. = 161 per ton. 230 minus 161 per ton = 69 per ton or 1.87 per bu. unaccounted for.

...don't confuse me with the facts eh.