Canada’s New Conservative Government believes western grain farmers should have the freedom to choose how they market their grain, allowing them to maximize their returns, while preserving a strong, viable, yet voluntary Canadian Wheat Board (CWB).

Firstly, let me be clear about our government’s intentions for the Board. It will be there for farmers. Recent events would suggest to me that the CWB clearly has a solid base of support among farmers and an excellent reputation with its customers in the grain industry around the world. That is great news and it tells me there is a bright future for a voluntary Wheat Board. Farmers will not stop doing business with the CWB simply because its monopoly on barley sales comes to an end.

We believe that, since farmers take all the risks and make all the investments, they should not be punished or jailed for pursuing opportunities outside the Wheat Board that make good business sense. Whether selling to the Wheat Board or outside of it, farmers should be allowed to seek out the best price possible for their products.

Therefore, for many farmers, this is an issue of freedom. I know that farmers are strong, independent-minded people who have been in the business for years if not generations. Since farmers are the ones who take all the risk, it is only fair that farmers should, at the very least, have the option on how best to market their grain. Just as those who produce canola or pulse crops or apples or cattle or any number of other farm products raised in Canada.

For many others, the right to choose is also a simple matter of dollars and cents. For example, an Ontario wheat grower selling hard red spring wheat with 13.5% protein would get about $5.50 per bushel right now in the spot market. A grower on the Prairies selling #1 Canada Western Red Spring with 13.5% protein through the Canadian Wheat Board is currently forecast to receive about $4.40 per bushel as the final pool return. This is $1.10 less than received by the Ontario farmer. And this projection can change. Not only would the Prairie grower receive less, but he or she would have to wait months to find out how much less.

Some recently published studies claim the removal of the CWB monopoly on barley will be detrimental to farmers and that the CWB is a major economic driver of the economy. Other studies show the opposite. I would argue that it is the Canadian grain industry and the hard work of producers that drives the economy. The CWB is a part and not the sum of the industry. Therefore, to suggest that jobs, buildings, or other tangible benefits somehow would not have existed without the CWB’s monopoly is false and misleading.

The fear-mongering needs to stop. A vote on barley will not bring about the end of the Canadian Wheat Board. The CWB will be there to serve farmers in the future and an end to its monopoly on barley won’t change that. So let’s allow farmers to have their say.

Some who oppose marketing choice for farmers claim our government has no support for what we are doing. Well, for starters, I would suggest that groups like the Western Barley Growers Association, Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association support our efforts. Countless farmers across the Prairies have written letters to their local papers in support for what we are doing. One person wrote:

“I commend you for following through with your campaign promise to provide marketing choice to western Canadian wheat and barley producers.” (Western Producer, 2006.10.26)

In the upcoming plebiscite on barley I am urging barley producers to consider the option of choice – the option to market their product in the manner of their choosing either to the Canadian Wheat Board or any other domestic or foreign buyer. We have also committed to hold a further plebiscite on the marketing of wheat at an appropriate time. Western Canadian farmers have the Government’s commitment that no changes will be made in the Canadian Wheat Board’s role in marketing of wheat until after that vote is held.

I look forward to what farmers say on this issue and trust that those eligible to vote will take the opportunity to do so.

Brian Jean, MP
Fort McMurray - Athabasca
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities