And there will be plenty of that. CWB Monitor;
Last night, in the federal election, 67% of the rural voters in the CWB Designated Area favoured the Conservatives whose platform included giving farmers the right to choose who they sell wheat and barley to (in other words, making use of the CWB voluntary by removing the single desk monopoly). Provincially, Conservatives won handily in all three prairie provinces; 70% in Manitoba, 57% in Saskatchewan and 76% in Alberta. By all accounts, a resounding endorsement of the Conservative platform. Even though the other federal parties argue that, because the Conservatives have only 40% of the National popular vote, 60% voted “against” Harper and his Conservatives, that can’t be said in the CWB designated area. With 67% of the rural vote, it can be said that only 33% don’t agree with the Conservative platform.
Where I’m from the farmers have been fighting the CWB since the ’80’s for the right to sell at international prices instead of grain cartel CWB rip off profits.
[d]
Wayne Easter, the Liberal resident expert on the CWB file will be up hollering from the distant bleachers.
When it comes to the unreasoned thinking of the Left on the 40%/60% they’re not dealing with how this democracy works. If they want to consider themselves as one entity they need to run as a coalition to not as individual parties.Individually they run on their own platforms, the party that wins is the one that gets most support. They’re still in coalition mode.
Liz J did you consider that rural Canada just doesn’t trust the Liberal movement anymore. period.
LIZ J
You make a very good point , break the party’s down and look at there voter apathy i would say that harpers voters love him and come out and show that support,
I would say that Ndp voters probly are people who don’t like iggy and JILL ….maybe not so much to do with harper.
And i would also point out that the biggest gain’s in the conservative platform were made in and around the GTA liberal ville so if so many hate harper why the switch to conservatives from a liberal strong hold and why yammer on about the ndp in quebec they almost never vote conservative becasue they know the tap will be switched off no matter who is in control as the conservatvie leader so the only other choice is the ndp in quebec. And i beleive even a few cons picked up seat’s there to.
Bye Bye wheat board …and good ridence another taxpayer burden relived ,now get rid of the registry ,privatize the cbc ,and eliminate federal funding for political parties.
Wayne Easter – PEI – potatoes – no credibility on the selling of wheat. Cheers.
Great news for wheat farmers.
The whole 40/60 thing is spurious, no matter who forms government. By and large, in a democracy, we vote for someone or for a party, not against the party that wins. 60% did not vote against Harper and the CPC; they voted for other parties. If people do want to play the “voted against” game then the NDP fared even worse, with 70% voting not Layton.
Kate, don’t fall into the trap of using that “Six out of ten voted against Harper,” line. Say, “Less than 5 million Canadians voted NDP!” Cheers
A related article at Reuters. The last paragraph is key since it points to keeping more wealth in the West and, incrementally, is part of the idea of moving more of the economy of Canada westward.
Opening up choice for farmers could benefit farmers by attracting more private investment to improving grain varieties, Ritz said.
“Innovation has been stifled because farmers are saying, ‘I’m not going to spend a lot of money on this crop because I can’t pick and choose when I can sell it.'” Agriculture researcher Larry Martin also sees room for investment.
Wheat millers and barley maltsters would have more reason to build facilities in Western Canada if they could buy grain directly from farmers, rather than at higher rates through the board’s single desk, said Martin, senior research fellow at the George Morris Centre.
The CWB much like trade unions may have had merit and a function at one time but that time has gone.
The world evolves and much like the “Crow Rate” that time has long gone.
The CWB much like the Ontario Bean Board has exceeded it’s mandate, by buying ships.
Like the Ontario bean Board it has become a self serving bureaucracy, not responsible to it’s owners and shareholders.
I support a farmer’s right to choose.
100 days can’t start soon enough.
While Jacko is still putting names to faces of his “caucus”, or is a “rumpus”, while Quebec wakes up to the fact they gambled on supporting the party they thought would hold the balance of power in a Coalition – and wakes up to the fact they have voted themselves into further obscurity, PM Harper has the time to make a lot of good things happen.
Go Stephen, go, go, go.
It is like have a two man advantage power play for five minutes and you are playing a Pee Wee league team.
Oh, one more thing RE Harper majority. He garnered more votes than Chretien in 1993.
… it can be said that only 33% don’t agree with the Conservative platform….
Ahh. yes. But a very special 33 percent it is.
Kate, don’t fall into the trap of using that “Six out of ten voted against Harper,” line.
Not my comments, I’m quoting DePape. But there’s no law against using an opponent’s tactic against him, either.
I’m sure Ralph Goodale and Wayne Easter will be shedding a tear over the fact farmers will escape government clutches and soon be free. I told Gerry Ritz about a year ago that sometime before I die I would like the freedom to sell at least one bushel of MY wheat to a buyer of MY choice at a price I choose. How soon can we get this done.
With average compensation of over $100,000/yr for wheat board employees, they are going to have a hard time competeing on a voluntary basis. Alan Olberg and his socialist buddies on the CWB board may have to find new part time jobs.
Isn’t the head office for the gun registry in PEI, when it’s repealed there goes those lovely jobs.
Hmm, it works both ways: how many %% voted “AGAINST THE LIBERALS?”
Ritz is sounding like there will be now wheat referendum – that the CWB will lose its entire monopsony in one fell swoop. Hopefully they will do that ASAP so producers can sow their crops this year knowing that they will have choice.
Also I would expect a thorough public audit of the CWB to be legislated.
The board will not be disbanded but die a lingering death as more and more of it’s hardcore supporters desert it.
The sooner the Wheat Board is made voluntary or disbanded the better. The Soviet era bureaucracy should be tossed into the dustbin of history.
Too bad Ralph Goodale and Wayne Easter were not ridden off into the sunset.
And were I an elected – and potentially liable – board member I’d be lawyering-up about now and thinking about resigning in order to avoid any more exposure.
What a lovely idea, can’t wait to see it happen.
And, gasp, the kids that grow up seeing this will be less likely to think of ‘da gubment’ as a solution to everything.
What about supply management in eggs, milk, and poultry? I know of at least one Conservative MP who is on record as a strong supporter of same – in his large rural riding. (I don’t know much about this issue, so would really like to hear the arguments.)
Rose,
I belive the registry office(Canada Firearms Center) is in Miramichi, New Brunswick.
PEI has the office of GST (Gd-damn Summerside Tax).
Kate, i like this principle.
“Conservatives won handily in all three prairie provinces; 70% in Manitoba, 57% in Saskatchewan and 76% in Alberta.”
Let’s roll it out more. I’d like to propose we delete the $1billion plus leftard propaganda machine for the liberated areas.
Then soon it will become just be a neighbourhood echo chamber somewhere, that can raise it’s own budget with some bake sales:
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Queen+Toronto+Bien+Pensants/4701819/story.html
Sell the ceeb tv asap!
Yeah it looks good on ’em.
Nettles Wiebe will be on this. Maybe she can bid on the grain ships when they appear on eBay.
Harper, although personally opposed to supply management isn’t going to touch it.
He will try and reform the senate, get rid of the long gun registry, and the $2/vote party subsidy.
A good start.
The marketing boards artificially raise the price of things like eggs, butter, etc. If you hate paying 5 bucks or more for a pound of butter that you can buy across the border for 1.99 then you might want the egg marketing board, milk marketing board, etc GONE.
As for the CBC the sooner its history the better.
The future of the CWB should not be left in the hands of CWB permit book holders only.
But then they wouldn’t be able to apply the principles of “prairie democracy”.
I’m not a farmer and I don’t know all the arcane details about the CWB. What I do know is that it is way past time that we stopped putting farmers in jail in some parts of Canada for selling a farm product and allowing them in other parts of Canada, freedom to sell that same product. It’s disgraceful that this issue still persists.
About vote percentages – the assertion always is that 60% of “Canadians” voted “against” PMSH. Well, roughly 40% of “Canadians” didn’t vote. There’s likely many reasons for that, the worst being that they simply didn’t care who the government is.
So, 40% of Canadians are accepting whomever is the Federal Government.
24% are actual supporters of CPC (40% of the 60% who voted).
Only 36% of Canadians actually voted for other parties, meaning that 64% are prepared to, at least, tolerate PMSH running the Federal Government.
5 pound brick of sharp cheese in US Costco = $11.00
5 pound brick of old cheddar in CDN Costco = $28.00
It’s not like Canadian dairy cows are located on some far away island in the high arctic and the logistics of getting the cheese to market is what drives our prices to be more than double that of the U.S. Another reason to cut Quebec free. Or at least end the protectionism for Quebec agri.
While we’re at it, regular gas this morning at the Ketchican, Alaska Safeway works out to $.97 per liter CDN. Worse yet, Juneau is only $1.03 where the only way into town is by ship or aircraft.
Aesics running shoes at The Running Room in Edmonton = $159.00
Same shoes at a Mom & Pop shoe store in Las Vegas = 2 pairs for $129.00.
Our summer holidays will once again be south of the 49th where like we did last year, go down with one change of clothes and then clean out the outlet malls and stuff the RV to the brim.
Tax me, I’m Canadian.
It doesn’t matter if 99% liked the CWB, forcing farmers to sell to a monopoly at gun point is immoral. Harper can do what he wants for the next 4 years. He can either plan for survival in a two-party world and scrounge from the centre-left for support, holding on to all liberal legacies, or act like a conservative for a change and do the right thing. All bets are off.
Prepare to be disappointed western grain farmers, among others. The Harper Liberal-lite won’t touch this with a ten foot pole.
They won’t even cut the vote subsidy in one fell swoop, but trickle it away. By the time 4 years are up, you won’t recognize this Party as a “conservative” party.
All they need to do right now is buy “the brand” from the original owners.
“Isn’t the head office for the gun registry in PEI, when it’s repealed there goes those lovely jobs.
Posted by: Rose at May 4, 2011 9:44 AM”
Yes,Miramichi,NB.
Stephen Harper promised that if he closed the long gun registry,all employees,about 300,would be given employment in other Federal Government departments,so the pro-gun registry have no case if they claim closing it will cause unemployment.
As for the CWB,I still remember the family in Manitoba that was raided by an RCMP SWAT team in the early hours of the morning,about 1 AM, for the crime of selling wheat to a private contractor.
The whole family, including elderly parents,were forced to the ground at gun point, handcuffed,and hauled off.
Totally agree, Eskimo. We’ll be hitting the NE States this year too.
How the vote went for the CWB election is completely beside the point. The CWB is an affront to individual liberty and property rights. Dimantling its monopoly is the right thing to do regardless of whether 99% of farmers want to keep it. Farmers should not be criminals for marketing their own product and selling it for the price they can get on the open market. In fact, it doesn’t even matter whether this helps or hurts farmers. That’s not the issue.
If the CWB directors are correct and the CWB is so awesome and the famers all love it then I am sure it will do great in the open market against all the evil grain companies who exploit the poor, stupid farmers.
Ed Po in AB, “They won’t even cut the vote subsidy in one fell swoop, but trickle it away.”
Harper has won me over to agreeing that a slow but steady approach is best. You have to survive today to accomplish anything tomorrow.
85% (my estimate) of the damage from the NEP was that it was too abrupt, forcing many viable businesses and families into bankruptcy. Of course NEP was fundamentally wrong and it still causes me to look forward to the final demise of the LPC as some measure of justice being served.
Supply management (birds and milk) will have to be undone slowly because people have too much invested in overpriced quotas. CWB could be unwound over a period of two years without too much disruption. I’d recommend that the CWB be required to grant free of charge a car-lot export licence to each permit book holder. Producers would be astonished at the higher prices and be begging for more freedom. Also the people supporting marketing choice would be getting permit books and be eligible to vote if the CWB runs another plebiscite.
Get rid of the LGR as soon as possible, and let steady Steve work away at the rest.
See? We’re ‘pro-choice’, too!
Reading through the comments, I see that this discussion has broadened far beyond the original topic. Thus I don’t feel inappropriate mentioning the following here because I think it fits in:
As you’re all probably aware, the ratio of voters to MPs is much higher in BC, AB, and ON. This is why these provinces are due a whole lot more seats before the next election. Talking with a few left-leaning friends in Vancouver, they’re not in favour of this seat alteration. Isn’t that a bit curious? Why would a person of the Left not be in favour of “better equality”? The citizens of these 3 provinces are “entitled” to more MPs. Why would a person of the Left not be in favour of that?
Their reasoning is simple: Given today’s current political climate, the Conservatives would likely benefit the most from this extra allotment of MPs. I don’t know about you, but I find such a viewpoint more than a little stunning! These folks are so willing to throw their own communities and provinces under the proverbial bus. And all for petty, short term political reasons. Not up to the level of “traitorous” but certainly well beyond pathetic!
For the new majority govt, some obvious early Targets, all beginning with a C:
1. Eliminating the CBC subsidy.
2. Eliminating the CWB monopoly.
3. Eliminating the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
4. Repealing the Canadian Human Rights Act.
What have I left off?
The end of the CWB monopoly and the long gun registry will please the west and go a long way to convincing us that our concerns are being listened to.
Since the lefties want to claim that 60% of Canadians didn’t vote for Harper I’ll counter by claiming that 80% of Canadians didn’t vote for them.
The 40% who voted Conservative plus the 40% who didn’t vote.
5. Confiscating tax dollars for political party subsidy.
Hopefully many LIberal sinecures will end over the enxt 5 years …. imagine the HORROR 🙂
What have I left off?
Coalitions.
Set a legal definition for a coalition government to exist. The coalition must have more seats than the party with the most seats; all coalition parties must have cabinet representation (no nudge-nudge with the BQ or any future incarnation); it must run as a coalition with only 1 candidate in a riding representing the coalition if the largest party falls on a confidence motion from the coalition or an election is held over the constitutionality of the coalition. We might not always have a sensible Governor-General.
John Chittick the CWB Monopsony will be ended in the next 100 days.
Re: Supply management. ever since the first CPC convention in Montreal SM has been a hotly contested issue. The plicy resolution at that convention changed the wording to say the party supported supplymanagement. the alernate wording the farmers who were in the supply management sector (read: Not the SM system).
It came up for debate in WPG and remained and it will come up again in Ottawa this june. I’m hopeful it will be changed to the latter wording. I will be at the mic speaking for the change – I can guarantee you that.
The SM system may soon be eliminated in the next gatt round as the US and the CAP countries look ready to cut bait on their subsidies (not real and implied) and the BRIC and African nations are now onside. SM will not be allowed to stand alone.
It should be noted that the CWB’s monopoly and SM are both legislated restictions on business – thus the SM farmers i eastern canada very much want the CWB monopsony to remain as they will be the only sector that is left with one.
The CWB will be hurt but not killed. The Cons last platform only mentioned freedom for barley growers not anybody else. Harper and the CPC will never touch SM. If you think anything that happens at a policy resolution matters you’re dreaming in technicolor.
I totally agree with slaw at 12:00 PM:
“The CWB is an affront to individual liberty and property rights.”
And I disagree with John Depape who seems to be arguing that the removal of the monopoly should be a farmer decision. The Government can and should give freedom to farmers by simply ordering the CWB to grant export licences to producers. They can then bring in farmers and industry to re-model the CWB to their hearts content
The Governments job is not to decide the fate of the CWB or the CBC, but just to create a system where the users are free to choose whether they will support those institutions. I want the government to put the control back into the hands of the people who supposedly choose governments. The problem today is that the media believe it is their responsibility to dictate what happens in this country.
The Governments job is not to decide the fate of the CWB or the CBC, but just to create a system where the users are free to choose whether they will support those institutions.
Bestowing such freedom of choice effectively will decide the fate of these anachronisms.