Bill Toews - Defending the Canadian Wheat Board

On July 15th, I attended a regional meeting of the National Farmers Union, and had an opportunity to listen to Bill Toews present a strong defence of the Canadian Wheat Board and the single-desk marketing system for western wheat and barley. In the past few weeks, the federal Conservative government has begun an ideologically-driven move to get rid of single-desk marketing.

Bill Toews is one of ten farmers who were democratically elected by grain farmers themselves to sit on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Wheat Board. He was elected, in part, because of his strong stand to defend the important role that the Canadian Wheat Board plays in assisting farmers market their grain at fair prices.

During the last federal election, I spoke with many farmers who were well aware of the Harper Conservative's policy of ending the Canadian Wheat Board's marketing approach for wheat and barley. Many said they were still going to vote Conservative because they did not really believe the Conservatives would end the CWB's monopoly on marketing. It is now becoming clear that the Conservatives intend to do just what they said they would do - end single-desk marketing.

The potential reprocussions for Manitoba agriculture are enormous and provincial Liberals will be keeping a close and concerned eye on these developments. Please send in your comments to me at jgerrard@leg.gov.mb.ca on this important matter.