For once, Albertans are focused on something other than the gun registry.
With the passing of the third and final reading of the Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act last week, wheat and barley producers are faced with a new and uncertain future, and many seem unable to focus on anything but the past.
After polling farmers this past summer, the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) published results that indicated 62 per cent of wheat producers and 51 per cent of barley producers who voted were in favour of retaining the single-desk marketing structure.
However, the federal government did not take this into account when they pushed Bill C-18 through the House of Commons. They took the stance they campaigned heavily on — the promise to open the market for wheat and barley producers. According to them, their resounding success in constituencies across the prairies, particularly in rural areas, suggests most of those living in those constituencies were in favour of the idea. Given wheat and barley producers were among those voting conservative in the last federal election, which gave Prime Minister Stephen Harper a majority government, Brian Storseth, MP for Westlock — St. Paul, said it is only right for them to follow through on the promise that got them elected.
It's a tricky situation. Supporters of the CWB's monopoly on wheat and barley claim the government is changing the system without asking the farmers, and the government is saying they asked the farmers during the election and received overwhelming support.
It all seems a moot point, however, as the bill has gone through the House of Commons and, if approved by the Senate, as of Aug. 1, 2012, producers of wheat and barley will have the freedom to market their product “based on what is best for their business, to the buyer of their choice,” said Storseth in a press release about passing the bill.
With the rest of Canada's wheat and barley producers already able to market their product as they see fit and not seeming to suffer any overly tragic circumstances because of it, perhaps Albertan farmers should give the new system a chance. The CWB will still exist for those who wish to use it, but those who want marketing freedom can have that too.
It's hard to tell the effect this will have on local farmers, whether the new system will be a success or a setback, but fighting it does not seem to be working. The time for rallying against the Conservative plan to open up the wheat and barley market was back when they were campaigning on that promise.
A vote for the Conservative government was a vote for opening up the markets, and it's nice to see a government keeping its promise for once.
