(Bumped to top with update. Scroll down for response from Canadian Press)
G&M;
“We have a democratic process, and the government is jeopardizing this democratic process. It’s an additional reason why we must condemn what the government is doing,” Mr. Dion said.
There is unity in maintaining the monopoly on western wheat and barley, he said, and even Quebec producers supported the body.
Well, that’s going to strike a chord with western farmers.
Update – Michelle Macafee of the Canadian Press manages to find a real, live, Manitoba farmer enthused about Stephane Dion;
Daryl Knight, who farms near Decker, Man., said he was impressed by Dion’s position on both agriculture and the environment.
“He seems like he wants the whole country to work together, and that’s a refreshing change because agriculture was never mentioned in the past,” said Knight. “Now we’re part of the country, which makes me pretty happy and proud.”
I’m bored, it’s 10:10pm on your dial, so I figure, what the hell, lets Google Daryl Knight ….
I’ve emailed Michelle Macafee and offered her the opportunity to respond.
Update
Dear Ms. McMillan,
Thank you for your e-mail regarding Michelle MacAfee’s story earlier this week on Stephane Dion and the Wheat Board. You’re right – Ms. MacAfee didn’t realize that Daryl Knight had been a Liberal campaign manager in the last election. She did ask Mr. Knight if he was a Liberal supporter and he told her only that he had voted Liberal in the last “couple of elections.” So she was aware of his political leanings and therefore CP was comfortable quoting him in that context. But more to your point: if we had known he was a campaign manager, we would have either included that information in the story or perhaps we might have chosen not to use his quotes at all. Ms. MacAfee attempted to reach Mr. Knight today to ask him why he didn’t elaborate on his connections to the party, but she couldn’t reach him. CP believes very strongly in its role as an objective news service. Feedback from readers like you helps us do our job better.
Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions.
All the best over the holidays and again, thanks for your interest,
Lorraine Turchansky
Prairies News Editor
Canadian Press and Broadcast News
And thanks to Ms. Turchansky for the reply.
This is just one more indication that Ottawa and Quebec just don’t get western alienation. Unfortunately, it shows that Dion is totally insensitive to the issue also. I expected better of him.
This is just one more indication that Ottawa and Quebec just don’t get western alienation. Unfortunately, it shows that Dion is totally insensitive to the issue also. I expected better of him.
This is just one more indication that Ottawa and Quebec just don’t get western alienation. Unfortunately, it shows that Dion is totally insensitive to the issue also. I expected better of him.
I think its more stupidity than insensitivity
I am not at all surprised because the East really has no “clue” as to what is going on in the Prairie Prov…..of course the Quebec and Ontario farmers want to maintain the status quo…they benefit….
Would this democracy thing that Dion refers to be something like farmers being able to participate in the Wheat Board if they want to, and not if they don’t want to?
Or is he referring to the tyranny of the majority where everyone has to do what Ontario and Quebec says?
Of course Quebec farmers support the CWB. As long as western grain producers are forced to sell their wheat to the CWB that is less competition for them. They can sell their wheat to whoever the heck they like! Dion is just another Quebec intellectual who does not have a clue about how things are in Western Canada. Beaker can kiss my Alberta raised arse!
Yeah, I saw this little gem, too. This is just stupid beyond words and the problem is that Dion, Ontario & Quebec, as well as the eastern MSM is so absolutely clueless on this issue that they will suck this up without comment. Sigh……..
dion is taking over the foot-in-mouth leadership role from Iggy.
And Dion gets yet another free pass from the pussy left-lib media.
~~ DION TO HOUND HARPPER ON WHEAT BOARD IN NEW YEAR ~~ Globe
(– the Globe firewalled the link, google for lots more.)
Now why would Dion be “standing up” for Prairie Farmer’s “interests” ?? There must be something more to this. Have any Prairie Farmers ever voted Liberal ??
Dion and Chretien’s Liberals also “stood up”(with hands in pockets) for Que/Canada’s interests and gave us Adscam.
It makes no sense that Dion would put such a high priority on the CWB. Orders from Lib-Powerbrokers ? CSL ? UN food-aid ? CIDA perhaps ?? Leadership debt relief ??
As Lowell Green said in his new book, ‘Tree-Hugging Thug Huggers Destroying Canada’, if something smells, follow the money.
I think we should start a petition whereby we end this preferential treatment of western farmers, and in the spirit of “inclusiveness” make ALL Canadian grain farmers go exclusively through the CWB.
How else will Quebec get cheap feed?
Dion and Quebec farmers arent the problem.Its the idiots out west that support the board that rankle me.The CWB has done to prairie wheat growers for 70 years what the NEP did to Alberta under Trudeau but the NEP was finally ditched.
Dion is all for democracy in the CWB but in the senate, not so much. Coincidently, Quebec likes the senate as well.
Al
How about we let the French citizen/intellectual Dweeb, Dion and low pockets Ralphy Goodale et al duke it out for the province/nation of Quebec with the Bloc-heads . With the Liberals it’s all about Quebec and what Quebec wants, to hell with the ROC. It has always been thus.
Trudeau gave us Multiculturalism to water down English Canada and assured Quebec as a monolithic Province. We are on our way to Balkanization unless we put an end to multiculturalism.
Ontario is another suck-hole for Liberal$, there may be hope for Ontario to come to it’s senses, they are experiencing the stupidity of a Liberal Provincial government under Dolty McGuinty, it may be too much Liberalism.
Dion wouldn’t have a clue about the plight of farmers of any stripe.
The picture of him with his “Dream Team” looks more like class of Snake Oil Salesmen saying “have we got a deal for you!”
It’s up to the Western farmers to give them the message loud and clear.
If Stephan, Ralphy and Scotty Brison are going against the grain boot them out of the wheat-fields with a frozen pointy toed boot!
So I heard the former head of the wheat board explaining that 7 of th 15 board members are farmer elected.
Can someone provide a bit of a summary. The high level issue I get is a a monopoly channel versus giving farmers choice of channel. That part I get.
I also get that some farmers continue to support the wheat marketing board, I assume becasue they dont feel they could get the same price otherwise and some oppose because they can get a higher price.
Where I get lost is the details of the wheat board itself, how it is governed etc, how farmers elect their members….
Any insight or poitning to some background articles would be useful.
Makes you wonder how many Librano skeletons will come tumbling out of the C.W.B. closet once Shelila Fraser is given the keys to the door!
The C.W.B. may be a closet full of bones, but I’m sure areas like the Gun Registry, Indian Affairs and the Chretien/Martin “Foundations” will be akin to unearthing mass graves!
The downright FEAR being expressed by the likes of Dion, I hope, is the beginning of the end of the most well connected, feared and sophisticated (sort of) criminal organization in Canadian history. (and no, I’m not referring to the Hell’s Angels)
Hmm… I thought the Liberals hated the concept of “tyranny of the majority”. But here we have Dion saying democracy gives him the right to impose upon people.
Well, if he can do that, let’s, therefore, have a national referendum on whether to restore traditional opposite-sex marriage!
Bloody Liberals… again touting democracy when it goes their way.
When it doesn’t go their way, they scream hysterically, “You would put human rights to a vote?!”
Well, the Liberals want to take away farmers’ human rights with a vote. They want to take away the human right to free enterprise!
Liebrano$$$! They’re fascists! *Spit*
DON’T VOTE LIBERAL!
I’ve got a suggestion for Dion: form a broader coalition, consisting of the Liberal Party and leftist farm groups like the NFU, KAP etc. whose purpose will be to promote the single desk CWB.
I’ve already thought of a name for such a group:
The Society for the Preservation of the Brontosaurus.
Other quotes from Dion ommitted from the G&M:
“It won’t go down unless you touch it.”
“The cheque is in the mail.”
I think you are correct Lee – stupidity. The eastern bloc regard the west with what they presume is a paternalistic superiority. West of Toranna is the ‘hinterland’, in the opinion of ‘the establishment’ (in their own minds).
The West was settled by people who had courage and determination and a hunger for independence; also the pioneers of the west were not rich when they arrived so they had a feeling that they were less influential because the E. Big Shots told them so – in the past there was a lot of the ‘serf’ mentality left over from the old countries; a ‘respect for ones betters’, so to speak.
Things have changed, thanks to B.C. Socreds (who made B.C. the richest province in Canada – only to be bankrupt by the Dippers – but the beautiful province is crawling out from under the debt!), and the people and Conservative government of Alta. People out west now feel sorry for the mentally challenged, welfare state trapped people of the east. We look at Dalton and Graham with disgust and pity for the people Dalton they are ruling. The people of Sask are poor because they surrendered to the lower dog mentality and never barked or demanded rights as ‘top dogs’ like Alta and B.C. Alberta has two neighbours who are learning fast from the most successful province in Canada. The west has it’s own front burner issues now, and the east is not really on our radar screen. We think of the east like our forefathers thought of the old folks in the old country – they have to be taken care of…. If the old folks, people we hardly know anymore, start demanding too much; the west will forget about them.
No one I know wants ‘in’ anymore, they want to be left alone. The hope is to prop up the east to shut them up but if they keep demanding they will be ignored and ‘cut off’ funds. I don’t know a soul who worries about Quebec’s threat to leave – we would wish them well, and hope that they can make it on their own so we would have one less drag on us.
Dyhone is a ‘foreigner’ to most of us, we don’t even contemplate him being Prime Minister because we would never accept him. He is a French citizen and he does not speak English; he is lumped in with Duceppe, in our minds. Dismissal, not dislike.
How about a petition to have Quebec farmers made mandatory members of the CWB. After all, it is the Canadian Wheat Board, not the Western Wheat Board. Then we can ask that all canadian farmers are in, not just the west. Wonder if Que and dion would support that. Remember, the Dream Team got OJ off of a murder charge, what is dion’s dream team to get the liberals off of.
Stephen
Board of directors directs CEO/President directs leadership team of VP’s, financial officers, Relations officers and other departments direct on down the corporate chain.
The board of directors is comprised of 15 members. 5 appointed by the Governor in council. 10 appointed by election in 10 districts in the designated area (basically W. Canada). Elections are done by a preferential mail in ballot to a 3rd party (auditor). Producers rank candidates they wish to vote for on the ballots, low person on the ballot is dropped and ballots redistributed to those left on the ballot. (Ballots without more ranks cannot be redistributed. so you do not have to vote for every candidate) Meyers Norris Penny LLP (this year) releases the results of the election to the CWB.
More details + profiles +(map included):
http://www.cwb.ca/public/en/about/people/#leadership
Major sicking points:
-Property rights.
-Arguable price advantage.
-Designated area does not include Ontario east (or most of BC)
-Difficulty in acquiring export licenses (and buyback)
-etc
Here is this years election results if it’ll help you Stephen. Directors serve 4 year terms. Odd districts went to the polls almost a month ago. Even districts will be chosen in 2 years time.
http://www.cwbelection.com/press/2006%20PR6%20Election%20Results.pdf
Truth of the matter is that nobody east of the Manitoba border knows anything about the CWB or even gives a rat’s ass about it. Anything they know about it is MSM filtered. If you want a chuckle or maybe to shake your head in dismay then wander over to babble and try to follow their thread on this subject. If ignorance is bliss then they have the happiest commentors on the planet. It doesn’t stop them from solving all the world’s problems though.
Sorry to go OT but LGF is reporting that Stephen Harper is talking tough and Hamas and Hezbullocks.
Back on topic, I agree Kate, Dion is a gift to the conservatives as long as he talks this way. Thank God for inept, out of touch academics. They actually have a role: to lose political elections!
Man! statements like that remind me other guy
“A proof is a proof you know a proof”
How does Dion propose to secure the HUGE amounts of grain necessary to fill the order for 10% biofuel content (twice what Ambrose proposed) in his enviro plan? CWB?
Will Dion make it mandatory for Western farmers to contribute to the biofuel industry?
CWB is an example of corporativism, not democracy.
Which, btw, it has in common with fascism.
Well, looks like the lying and is still rampant with the Librano$$. If Quebec farmers are so supportive of the CANADIAN Wheat Board then why aren’t they clamouring to be part of it? If the CANADIAN Wheat Board is so beneficial to the producers then why aren’t the Ontario and Quebec wheat producers demanding that they also benefit from such a scheme?
Shows what a lightweight Dion really is – regardless of the MSM’s spin on his abilities and strengths. The best engineers do not necessarily make the best managers.
Interesting that Dion is spending his time in the West in Manitoba… a whole lot more left leaning than Alberta. He’s pandering for votes in Man. and Sask., that’s all. He knows he doesn’t have a chance in Alberta, so he’s said “Screw you” once again to Alberta, and he’s just trying to shore up the urban votes in the areas the Libs hold.
Typical Liberal strategy.
~~ SUGGESTIONS, open to improvements, of course, 🙂
– Barley transfered to open market (no dual)
– Chuck transfers CWB governing powers entirely to the Prairie Farmers in the ‘designated-area’. Farmers elect Directors, CEO, ect. Gov’t has no involement whatsoever. (no loan gaurantees either)
– Producer votes should be weighted by historical production #s, to a degree.
– Chuck should like this as all gov’t interference is removed.
– How can Dion oppose it ?? It gives all the ‘little-guys-from-shawinigan’ their prairie due.
– The PWB (Producer Wheat Board) would be subject to security issues, as is the USDA.
– Only one, of four or five, major grains would be under single desk, with only Producers sitting behind that desk. (If they do not do their job well they will be replaced at the next election.) Ruckus-like meetings you say ?? so, .. should see Physicians & Surgeons Annual Meetings !!
Others, business and professionals, have obligatory, if not mandatory organizationas. Such as Doctors, Lawyers, Dentists, Western Grain Elevator Association(WGEA), Farm Implement Manufacturers Ass, NHLPA. All their services/products are covered, not just one of four or five.
Canadian Prairie Farmers are at a huge geological disadvantage. Horrendus frieght rates and a harsh climate, thousands and thousands of sellers and just a handful of Multinational buyers — an Investment-Manager’s nightmare(no pricing power). Add to that no political power at all and with rampant rural-depopulation, it will only get worse.
Be careful what you ask for. You might get it. 🙂
Texas Canuck:
I am an Ontarian and admit I don’t know much about the CWB.
What I do know is it is not democratic, and that alone should be cause for great concern.
I’m not a farmer but I respect farming and consider it one of the more noble professions.
Again I don’t pretend to know much about farming but I personally consider the Egg, Milk, etc. Marketing Boards to be similar to the CWB, in that they control who can produce what, and how much.
That to me is Communism.
If anyone out there wants to educate me as to where these policies are good for all, please feel free to do so.
Great Post Jemma54!
I couldn’t have said it better.
Merry Christmas!
From what I understand, the reason for things like the egg, milk etc marketing boards, is to guarantee that Canada has it’s own supply of food staples. In a free market system, it might be (probably due to farm subsidies) cheaper to buy eggs, milk, cheese, etc from different countries than to produce it in Canada.
There’s a reasonable argument for having the ability to feed your own population nationalized.
Not about the CWB but regarding Dion.
Unbelievable…in the G & M today Dion announces that the Liberanos will follow Chretien’s successful 1993 campaign strategy of “jobs,jobs,jobs.”
Just further proof that the Liberals don’t have a clue about Western Canada.
Out here in the west we need people,people,people to fill the jobs,jobs,jobs and there won’t be any Liberals taking credit for the job creation.
Also,the Canadian jobless rate is roughly half of what it was in ’93(11.1% then 6.3% now)
so good luck with that strategy you socialist bird brain.
CBCPRAVDA and a negative spin on Harper on a liberal problem
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/12/21/harper-gomery.html
Total hypocrisy from Dion. He complains about “jeopardizing the democratic process”, but he has declared his intention to hand-pick female Liberal candidates across the country.
More leftie logic that only those dimwits can rationalize.
I watched the dipshit Dion on TV making those assertions. Dion is playing to the home crowd back in La Belle provence.
Besides the fact that Quebec farmers are NOT even able to participate in The Western Canada Wheatboard there is as yet no move to abolish it.
The issue is “Mandatory Participation”.
If as I suspect a majority of grain producers opt to stay in there will be little change in the big scheme of things.
Those who opt out can have their way and TRY to make it on their own. All they want is the chance! Right!
The matter of Measner is more a reflection of his unwillingness to show accountability than anything else. Strahl had plenty of good cause to fire him.
I’m betting it will all work out for the better after some more housecleaning!
Western farmers will be digging this at their next hoedown.
B flat dim2 sus4 aug5 add6 flat7
This has not much to do with wheat…and a lot to do with Dion trying to line up the Quebec support…does he really know any Quebec farmers. Is he speaking with them …Does he even realise CWB doesn’t involve Quebec farmers?…I’m with Lee…Dion sounds ‘informationally challenged’.
wildrose…Dion does not speak for Ontario, or any eastern farmers.He speaks for the Liberal party only.
There seems to be a lot of ignorance about the CWB on this board – and I would suggest getting educated before making such sweeping dogmatic statements against it. Now I’m not very knowledgeable myself, but people should at least recognize that it’s a difficult issue and that there are good arguments on both sides. My dad is a farmer in SK and he’s concerned about the Conservative plan to dismantle the board, though he’s not decided either way on the issue. Here are some of the things we talked about:
1. The American farmers don’t like the CWB, so this would suggest that the CWB gives prairie farmers an advantage. (On the other hand, apparently Quebec farmers like the CWB, so this suggests the opposite. Personally, I’d go with the former interpretation simply because farming in Quebec will be much different from prairie farming.)
2. My father grows many crops that he has to sell on the open market, which is always a big headache – so he has always been happy to have a few crops that he can leave for others to sell (especially wheat, which is a relatively cheap crop anyway).
3. I think it’s clear that an open market will benefit some farmers, e.g. those close to the U.S. border, and it will be worse for others in different situations. The question is whether the Wheat Board benefits all farmers enough that it justifies disallowing what benefits a few.
4. Mr. Measner was the choice of the majority of prairie farmers to serve as Wheat Board President because he supported the single desk. So the Conservative’s decision to fire him went against the majority opinion of Western farmers. If this is not anti-democratic I don’t know what is. You can complain about Dion all you want, but he is right on this point.
In response to those who critize the whole history of the CWB and the single desk, I think it was undeniably beneficial in the past, so this shouldn’t be what the discussion is about. Rather, the discussion should be about whether it is still beneficial. It certainly is possible that its usefulness is over and the Conservatives are right. However, the decision should be made from knowledge of current economic realities and in consultation with prairie farmers.
Great find on Daryl Knight!
Now only if there were a Canadian equivalent of Fox News……[sigh] dream on.
lol, Bob Tarantino pwns.
Mr. Measner was appointed by the government.
And if you go to your left, and do a search on “wheat board”, you’ll find a lot more informed discussion in the comments than you will in nearly any other venue.
“Democratic” as in “Peoples Democratic Republic of Canada”.
Not unsimilar, there’s this quite amusing story in the Globe today of how he is going to campaign as if it were 1993.
Best line of it, was:
“Mr. Chrétien won the election against Madame [Kim] Campbell because she said we cannot reduce unemployment. Mr. Chrétien said ‘No. We will. We will create a machine to create jobs in this country and we will do it with fiscal discipline’ and we delivered.”
So clearly, lying about nuking the GST, running against a split Conservative movement, voters looking to punish Mr. Mulroney, an economy in the late 90’s that would’ve made anyone look brilliant, and Ms. Campbell’s campaign making fun of Mr. Chretien’s face had NOTHING to do with it.
He also neglects to mention of how this “machine” created jobs for, you know, Liberal friends.
That said, I’m loving this arrogance. It shows they haven’t learned a damn thing.
And it’s not as if this intervention on the wheat board is going to make a difference. The Conservatives will still sweep the west. I don’t know why the Liberals don’t focus on how they’re going to lie to Ontarians.
Michelle Macafee IMO is a disgrace to journalism.She has far too much company in this country.