Picture for a moment, that instead of being president and CEO of the Canadian Wheat Board, Adrian Measner was your real estate agent. And that instead of selling your wheat, he’d been selling your houses.
And imagine for a moment, that you had just served notice that you were terminating the relationship, and would be shopping for another realtor.
And pretend for a moment that, in response, Mr. Measner brought you letters from buyers who had purchased your properties – testifying to his selling abilities, expressing “grave concerns”, and advising it was in your best interest to continue listing your houses with Measner Real Estate.
| What would you think? I know what I’d think. |
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I would not even buy a car from that guy!
I’d be more inclined to think he was the realtor that sold those houses in Calgary, supposedly finished, only to find drywall was missing, wiring was incomplete, cracks in the foundation and lots of other problems. And, these buyers still had to take possession, and hire someone to finish the home. This, after paying over 300+ thousands of dollars.
It speaks volumes that CWB customers are coming forward to show their support for this man. I’m thinking he must be working for them and not the Western Farmer, why else would they care….
Its time to separate the wheat from the chaff.
I’m thinking it is time to seperate the Pigs from the trough…this guy has been at the CWB for how long collecting how much money. and now it looks to me like he was really working for the other side.
KICKBACKS paid by Australia’s monopoly wheat exporter to the regime of Saddam Hussein were put into a bank account used to finance a $US10million ($13 million) slush fund for families of Palestinian suicide bombers.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Bribes from Aussie Wheat Board Funded Suicide Bombers
From The Australian:
He solicited those letters. If anyone did this in the real world they would be fired immediately.
Sorry, but didn’t the farmers of Canada choose single desk candidates 4 to 1 and while the controversy was raging?
I suppose I don’t know enough but usually this would be considered a vote of support from the sellers.
Oddly enough I heard a strong advocate for ending single desk suggest that the support for single desk amongst western farmers is at around 55% but that they should not have the right to stop other farmers from undermining the wheat board for their own personal gains.
voiceofsanity, the CWB was imposed as a wartime measure to make sure the price of grain didn’t get too high for Britian during WW2…it was always designed to ensure lower prices.
There has never been a farmer vote on Wheat for example, but there have been several for Canola…and they’ve never come close to getting jurisdiction.
That said, why should the decision of a farmer to sell grain to someone other than the Government of Canada be subject to a vote? Can you only work for the feds? Does the corner store have to sell to a particular customer, and only that customer? This is an issue of basic economic freedom, and should not be subject to a vote by anyone! It should simply be granted as the “right thing to do”
Why does single desk selling only work in western Canada and only in grains? Is everyone else backward? Or is it because the CWB is just so well managed that they can get everyone to buy from them for more money than anyone else..(biggest lie ever, check with elevators in N.D. and Montana their street price is higher than the cwb’s final)I guess that is why the customers are lining up to defend it and it’s ceo
Firstly: What in hell is the Paris Club? (Apart from the fact that they informally meet in Paris,France- to decide which countries don’t have to pay for the grain that they bought on credit from the CWB?)
But of course: who are Canada’s representatives to the Paris Club- who appointed them? What part of Canada do they come from? How much are they paid, to do this?
(Something tells me, that a very large cat is about to be let out of a bag!) Kudus to Kate!
Kate
You have so busted these pricks……..Three years from now the royal commision will …..kinda….sorta…..say…..the same.
Syncro
Right on Jeff. There should be no plebiscite on this. The conservatives should just do away with single desk, period. This is about individual freedom and individual rights.
I may be a cynic,butlooking at the effort going into keeping the wheat board alive, and Citoyen Dion’s statement that if the CWB is dismantled he would reinstate it as soon as he was elected, you have to wonder if western farmers are not being fleeced to fill Lieberal coffers.
If the CWB does survive, the books should definitely be subjected to a forensic audit.
Even the editor of one of our local dailies picked up on this. If the CWB president receives accolades from customers requesting he be retained, he must be doing “something” for them. I can’t imagine a farmer who wouldn’t think he is getting screwed.
The only attraction the CWB must have is that they provide the farmer an early instalment on the grain sale payment. This could be a strong incentive for support from farmers who have a cash flow problem.
But we don’t need a monopoly to provide this perc. And we don’t have to trash property rights.
Well, let’s look at what other prairie raw material producers do. Like potash. They have a “single desk”, Canpotex, although they don’t call it that(!). Since the early 1980s, all producers are in, but they haven’t always been. And, once they’re in, there are penalties when they withdraw (like waiting a few years before they can get all their production back in the tent). But, the key thing is that it is voluntary. That’s voluntary, as in a choice. Same kind of idea for sulphur, where some producers are in PRISM (I think that’s what it’s called now) and some are out. Again, it’s voluntary. It seems to me that Strahl is contemplating a voluntary CWB. Maybe 80 per cent of wheat and barley producers will opt to go with the CWB. How different is that from now? The farmers who want to market on their own can and will. They may be happy or not. So what? I don’t understand the hidebound response from the “institutional” CWB that seems to think that a choice will be a disaster. They may be better off than ever.
There is no doubt at all that the CWB has had ‘preferred’ customers who were not paying the market price for our grain let alone a ‘premium’ price. Read the following carefully.
“Several news agencies have reported that the CWB has sold 3 million tonnes of high quality wheat to the Soviets…………
The Board’s reluctance to confirm the rumour is sound business practise on its part. The CWB sells secrecy as well as grain when it deals with the Soviets. The last thing the Soviets want is confirmation that they’re buying heavily in the North America market. Their practise in recent years has been to buy large quantities from Canada and the EC under confidential terms before entering the very public American market.
Once the Chicago market becomes aware of the Soviet buying activity, prices soar at the Soviets expense. Because US grain comapanies are required to declare large sales immediately, the Soviets have decided to use the Americans as their residual suppliers.”
This description of CWB sales technique was in the Sept 18 1987 Alberta Wheat Pool ‘Budget’, a weekly newsletter.
Clearly the writer blindly supported the CWB but he obviously did not realize that he told us that the CWB was selling our grain for less than the US farmers were going to get for their grain, because the Chicago prices would soar when the US grain companies reported their sales.
Again the biggest lies perpetrated by the CWB is where they claim to get premium prices and ‘maximize returns to the producer’. Only a couple of sick and twisted egghead academics who bend and distort the real facts about the CWB could still tell us what a great service the CWB is to the Western farmer. What utter rubbish.
The fact that these letters contain thinly veiled threats but no job offers speaks volumes.
BOHCA
I could give a rat’s behind who sells what as long as taxpayers didn’t have to subsidize the whole thing from here to eternity. Imagine that for a moment.
well, initially I would be puzzled why the car salesman didnt first attempt to glean why I had chosen to go elsewhere.
I sure as blazes would not expect her/him to drag in other clients in a bizarre attempt to show me the ‘error of my ways’. then I would get reaaaaaal suspicious wtf was really going on.
and run like hell away from the sales agent and thank my good fortune I made the initial decision in time.
Hard to explain any other reason for the letters other than the optics of them having to pay higher prices than what they have been getting from the CWB….. if marketing choice is allowed. Just solidifies the point that Western farmers haven’t been getting a good deal on their grain and that the CWB has been more concerned with its buyers than with getting a good price for farmers…. Healthy competition between sellers is needed to arrive at a ‘fair’ market price. CWB should be subject to that competition as well…. If there is so much support for the CWB then opening up marketing choice shouldn’t have that much affect on their business as most growers would still use it. If it is such a great deal for Western farmers then they will continue to market their grain through the CWB…. hence no fear of allowing the ones who want choice to have it.
rd
I note that the buyers who jumped over themselves writing letters only spoke of how much they bought, but carefully avoided the price agreed or disclosed copies of invoices. Guess why?
well in true wheat board fashion I think we all should wear the same colonge, say old spice. and all maybe drive a Lada, yea thats so retro ussr, and maybe we should only go to say, the orange julius to eat and only drink absolute vodka, get a grip canada do we need this communist organization, we have enough communists right under our feet and as our neighbors, they are called hutterites and they will own everything if we don’t take the first steps to rid ourselves of communism and the wheat board. do hutterites pay health care, NO! do hutterites make cash dollars every weekend at the farmers markets with their ducks and carrots, YES
“Hey he’s going to be available.Offer him 6 figures to come work for us.”
“Sorry Boss, but we already pay him 7 figures to work for them.”
Kate
The National Post must have been reading SDA…they have a great editorial in today`s paper about CWB. Better late than never!!
As a side note, the way the Libranos are fighting this it makes you wonder what they want to keep covered up. It would be interesting to look at the contracts between CWB and CSL for starters.
Al
Wow this is grade a propaganda if I’ve ever seen it…… from the CWB website.
http://www.cwb.ca/public/en/hot/choice/CEO/
………. “When we negotiate with our customers – whether it is here in Canada or around the world – they know that there is only one source for the product that we’re selling. They know that if they want to buy western Canadian wheat, durum or barley, they will have to deal with the CWB. They know that what they will get from us is consistent quality, assurance of supply and excellent customer service.
They also know that we know our product, that we’re tough negotiators and that we’ll do everything in our power to ensure that the value of the sale reflects the value of the product. We can do this because nobody else sells the total quality package that we do.
This kind of negotiating power is what every successful business seeks to achieve in its marketing efforts. From John Deere to Microsoft to Lexus… successful businesses develop brand loyalty and then use that loyalty to extract a premium from the marketplace.
But if the product can be obtained from another source – if customers have the choice to buy it from several different competitors – then the ability to negotiate from a position of power disappears. Buyers then have access to an open market, as far as supply is concerned. This is what has happened in Ontario and this is what would happen if the CWB lost its ability to be the only source of Prairie wheat, durum and barley. The result would not be a dual market where farmers can choose between selling their grain through an effective single-desk seller like the CWB or on the open market. What farmers would be left with is an open market where customers in Canada and around the world can choose to deal with whoever gives them the lowest price for farmers’ grain.” ………
How about we flip that around a little bit and word it “Western farmers can choose to deal with whoever gives them the highest price for their grain!!!”
This obviously proves that they are looking out for the buyers getting the cheapest price for their grain, not the farmers getting the best price……
And how about the comparison to Microsoft, Lexus and John Deer….. what a crock. John Deer has to purchase all their tires, engines, parts, steel etc… from suppliers who are selling to many other companies. They don’t have a monopoly on their supply. If the tire company doesn’t like what JD wants to pay, then they market to others. If JD doesn’t like the price the tire company offers, they shop around to the others. Western wheat farmers don’t have the luxury of taking their product elsewhere. They take what the CWB offers or they take nothing…. what an apples to oranges comparison. Give farmers choice.
rd
Perhaps I’m missing something here. A link on the CWB site takes one to this:
“The Alliance for Rail Competition (ARC) is a diverse group of shippers and industry trade associations that formally organized in March 1997 in response to growing concerns over deteriorating rail service. Members of ARC include businesses representing a broad cross-section of industry segments, including agriculture, coal, consumer and industrial products, chemicals, minerals and petrochemicals.”
“Companies involved in ARC’s efforts recognize that the current regulatory interpretation of the 1980 Staggers Act has strayed significantly from the pro-competitive intentions of that law. After significant efforts to rectify the regulatory approach to rail competition, ARC has recognized that the STB will continue to apply its anti-competitive interpretations until such time as Congress directs it to do otherwise. ARC members are not looking for more regulatory intervention. Rather, they are looking for the ability to negotiate with their rail carriers in a free market environment where customer choice—not monopoly power—determines the type and quality of service received. Thus, ARC members have endorsed and adhere to the following pro-competitive philosophy”
Apparently the CWB sees a need for competition and less regulatory intervention. Hmmm.
After reading rockyt and Red Deer, it seems to me that the wheat board is another one of Ottawa’s secret socialist tools, like equalization and Kyoto and the CRTC.
The Wheat Board’s real job obviously isn’t selling wheat: it’s transfering wealth from working people (in this case, farmers) to the totalitarian friends of our Ottawa mandarins, such as the Russians, Chinese and probably the Cubans.
And it’s all done in secret, so the Americans can’t drive the price up to where it should be. Fits the ancient Ottawa pattern pretty well, doesn’t it?
— Maurice Strong is God ™
Non farmer here, but I can sure EAT! :
Nothing beats CHOICE, PERIOD!!!!
You can buy goods from the lowest price supplier; the guy who supports you local kids hockey teams (not Extra Foods!), the guy who give you credit when no one else will; suppliers who are green; suppliers who don’t use sweatshops…
It’s your money. Buy or sell to whomever you want. That is what is called a marketplace..IT’S GREAT!
If you have a skill, product or service, others who are lacking said skill, product or service, are looking FOR YOU! They actually NEED you.
I was a civil servant for twenty years and was dying. What a useless self loathing existence!
Now the marketplace has allowed me to supply a skill, that I LOVE TO deliver (a technical service) at a price that the customer feels is worth the price. Or he can go somewhere else. And some do, for a variety of reasons, price is only one reason.
Keep the board, after the books have been examined, but let a producer haggle and deal with whomever he/she wants. Even a CWB middleman for those who WANT HIS SERVICE, some people do!It won’t be for everyone.
There’s room for everybody.
eastern paul, as a proponent of the marketplace, you’re probably wondering why anyone would actually voice support for an atrocity like the CWB. Perhaps no one has explained to you that there is an element of prairie farm mentality, call it culture perhaps, that says, “it’s not such a bad thing that I can’t make a buck, as long as my neighbour can’t either”. I’ll probably get flamed for this, but I’m not saying it to dump on farmers in general (I come from a long line of peasant farmers), it’s a sincere observation. While we demonize the CWB and the leaches that benefit from it, we tend to excuse those ordinary people (voters) who support it. I believe that this mentality is particularly rife in rural Saskatchewan, and is a major roadblock to economic progress.
Unstated in your metaphorical WBC allegory was that fact that only property owners west of the Ontario border must contract Mr Measner as their “exclusive” Realtor and really can’t legally market their real estate as a FSBO or even switch to another realtor ( of which there are none anyway).
Pretend for a moment that regardless of Mr. Measner presenting glowing reports of his sales prowess, from realty customers who he sold your previous properties to below market value, you had witnessed fellow property sellers marched off to jail for marketing their property themselves or for forming property owners co-ops to market their own real estate.
Pretend also that there were hungry home buyers in the US and else where clamoring to buy your property at above domestic market values and do businessdirectly with you cutting out the middleman…. but Mr. Measner squashed these sales instead selling to domestic home buyers at below market value because his commission was greater with these buyers.
Would you continue to allow Mr. Measner and his realestate agency the Realty marketing monopoly in western Canada, or tar him, burn his office and run his crooked tarred and feathered ass out of town on a rail?…Maybe the east wants a realty marketing monopoly more than the west…maybe try your luck there Mr Measner. 😉
First on the list of “supportive buyers” was “Canada Malt”. The CWB has given these guys the first chance at malt barley grown and offered to the board. They are totally insulated from the farmers they buy from, and it shows in their business practices. I know farmers who tell their grain buyer to pee in the sample that goes to Canada Malt.
A farmer gets the same amount of money for loading it into a boat to China as from the Canada Malt down the road, so what’s in it for him under this system? The foreign buyer buys the stuff and it’s shipped to him, and if he doesn’t use it until next july he suffers any quality deterioration. Canada Malt just says they don’t want it with no consequences to them, and the farmer takes the financial hit. Where’s the disincentive for overcontracting, just to make sure you have supply, or rejecting the guys barley when a big new crop means lower prices coming soon, than the old contracted price.
No wonder they want to perpetuate the current system, they’re not accountable to the farmer seller, and the CWB obviously doesn’t give a rip, because this has been going on for as long as I can remember.
If the CWB is a good deal, then for cryin’ out loud, throw the decision at the friggin farmer. If it is such a good deal, THEY will tell us so.
The problem with a vote is that the CWB has become a motherhood and apple pie issue with a lot of farmers. There are stories of the evil grain companies taking advantage of farmers and the only bulwark against this is the CWB. There is so much misinformation out there that a vote won’t be informed and fair.
The first thing we need to do is have the auditor general to go through the books with a fine tooth comb.
Can we have a trial run with open market, so we can measure performance and either prove or disprove the ability of the board to command a premium price that filters down to the farmer? Right now, we have to take their word for it, and I’m not seeing any proof, only propaganda and rhetoric.
Finally maryj not only shows her ignorance of farm issues but admits it. She would like to treat farmers like communist countries do as uneducated peasants. She now shows her lack of knowledge.
Better get your wooleys out to head for the picket line with the other greedy socialists.
Al W, all CSL and all Fednav contracts with any government department or agency, even previuos to Smaul Fartin’ buying CSL, should be audited by the Auditor General now that the Accountability Act has passed. The Lie-beral’s will no doubt argue that the Act should not be applied retroactively, however, that is where the audits are needed the most.
I’m a city slicker so maybe I should keep my nose out of this but I’m wondering why there is no Charter challenge to CWB’s monopoly practices being imposed on the farmers?
I detest what the Charter has done to Canada but if “they” can use it as a weapon for whatever reason, why can’t someone – like a farmer – use it as a weapon against them?
Was China one of the buyers writing to express concern?
This quote may well give us a clue as to what our Western farmers are paying for, courtesy the CWB and a former federal government, likely initiated under Chretian.
And how many more agreements, like this one, are the Western farmers on the hook for now? It is not as though China is a failing state.
“Proposed $1 million in capital funding to establish a training and technical centre in Beijing, China in partnership with the China Cereals Oilseeds and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO). The centre will support China’s milling and food-processing industry. The technical centre is a natural extension of the CWB and COFCO’s long-standing, positive business relationship. Operating costs of the technical centre will also be shared between the CWB and COFCO.”
And for how long is the agreement expecting our Western farmers to ‘share’ the operating costs of China’s technical centre…and who does the audits?
http://www. cwb. ca/public/en/hot/task/#response1
I did not vote in any CWB vote for years…but I have voted with my feet!
I quit selling to the Board years ago after being lectured by a rep of Canada Malt that I should be happy with the job the board is doing for me when getting me $3.50 a bushel for malt!!??
At the time malt barley was selling in Montana and the Dakotas for $8.50 U.S.!
NOW I am hearing this again…board customers are happy with the board…what else is new?
Whoa! Who is the dude in the picture at the top of the link page? Is he selling wheat or showing up at farm doors past midnight?