Anti-CWB forces see promising signs

The Western Producer ^ | 10/03/2002 | Barry Wilson

[Fury]

Anti-CWB forces see promising signs
this document web posted: Thursday October 3, 2002 20021003p11

By Barry Wilson
Ottawa bureau

Political momentum in the parliamentary debate over the Canadian Wheat Board has shifted in favour of those opposed to the monopoly and it is partly because Ontario farmers have joined the discussion, says the Ottawa representative for Grain Growers of Canada.

GGC executive director Cam Dahl said the wheat board monopoly will be one of the "big four" issues he expects to be pushing on Parliament Hill, along with safety nets, environmental issues and trade.

And he thinks the anti-monopoly grain growers' lobby group is on the right side of history.

Last June's decision by the Liberal-dominated House of Commons agriculture committee to recommend an experiment in open-market selling of export wheat and barley and domestic human consumption wheat and barley was a milestone.

"I really think it shows the momentum is behind those who want choice," he said in GGC offices two blocks from Parliament Hill. "Ten years ago, there wasn't even a debate on this."

He said a crucial change has been the creation of the grain growers' lobby that represents grains and oilseeds producers from across the country, including influential Ontario wheat, corn and soybean producers. It has been arguing that prairie grain farmers should have the same marketing choices that Ontario farmers have.

"I think when Ontario farmers say they support giving prairie farmers the same options that work in Ontario, many of the Ontario Liberals think about it a bit more and perhaps get a different perspective on it," he said.

But Dahl also said change is not imminent, as long as Regina-based MP Ralph Goodale is in charge of the wheat board file in cabinet.

"I don't know if he is convincible. He seems to have invested a lot in defending what's there now."

Dahl has spent the better part of five years watching the wheat board debate from a different Parliament Hill perch.

The Swan River, Man., native was legislative assistant to Canadian Alliance chief agriculture critic Howard Hilstrom, who has been a consistent critic of the board monopoly since he was elected in 1997.

Before his stint in politics, Dahl worked in Winnipeg at the Grain Transportation Agency and the Car Allocation Policy Group, as well as studying agricultural issues in the jungles of Brazil.

GGC was formed in 2000 to speak for grain and oilseeds producers who do not consider their interests well reflected by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and its attempt to balance the interest of agricultural exporters and protected supply management sectors.

On the Prairies, GGC members include the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association and organizations representing western barley and Manitoba corn producers.

© The Western Producer. Not to be republished without permission.

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