cannuck Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 I acknowledged that I was looking for information, but I completely doubt that something could become law with NO good points at all. It's too bad, as I was interested in hearing what you had to say up until that point. I am not very tolerant of the pro-wheat board position, and I say there is no "plus" as per my explanation. The good reason for its monopoly played out. The rest of its existence was strictly for the purpose of the central government continuing to screw the West using Marxist version of central control (but not having to bother with taking title to the land - didn't need to do that when they had control of the means of production. As CF pointed out: it this was such a great idea, why was the ROC left to have free markets??? The answers were: they didn't produce diddly squat (relative to SK/MB/AB in that order) and they had enough votes so as not to want to foment opposition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hardner Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 So the government wanted to 'screw the west' and that was the motivation behind it ? Ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cannuck Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 So the government wanted to 'screw the west' and that was the motivation behind it ? Ok. By George HE GOT IT. I suppose you had no awareness of the Crow Rates - that removed the opportunity for all value added processing from this economy - strictly for the benefit of ON? Further: if you hadn't noticed from many posts: the CWB held monopoly over only Western farmers. The West is sick of being to productive piggy bank for a parasitic East (and many, do I EVER include Quebec in that one!!!!!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilber Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 By George HE GOT IT. I suppose you had no awareness of the Crow Rates - that removed the opportunity for all value added processing from this economy - strictly for the benefit of ON? Further: if you hadn't noticed from many posts: the CWB held monopoly over only Western farmers. The West is sick of being to productive piggy bank for a parasitic East (and many, do I EVER include Quebec in that one!!!!!!) The country (east and west) has other agricultural marketing boards, both provincial and federal. Most are favoured by farmers because they prevent boom and bust cycles in their industries. They have also given Canadian farmers the ability to successfully resist the pressure to use things like growth hormones and steroids in Canadian poultry and dairy cattle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hardner Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 The country (east and west) has other agricultural marketing boards, both provincial and federal. Thanks for the well-balanced view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cannuck Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 The country (east and west) has other agricultural marketing boards, both provincial and federal. Most are favoured by farmers because they prevent boom and bust cycles in their industries. They have also given Canadian farmers the ability to successfully resist the pressure to use things like growth hormones and steroids in Canadian poultry and dairy cattle. Those other marketing boards are not the CWB, but they, too, do a terrible job of a vast number of things. If you had any idea what happens to butter, powdered milk and eggs under government management, you would understand why isolating one market from another is a disaster in the making. Again: if you believe we need a Marxist economy, then you are right, those boards are a wonderful thing. If you believe we have the intelligence and integrity to live in free markets, they suck the big lemon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilber Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 Those other marketing boards are not the CWB, but they, too, do a terrible job of a vast number of things. If you had any idea what happens to butter, powdered milk and eggs under government management, you would understand why isolating one market from another is a disaster in the making. Again: if you believe we need a Marxist economy, then you are right, those boards are a wonderful thing. If you believe we have the intelligence and integrity to live in free markets, they suck the big lemon. No system is perfect and supply management systems are no different. As you brought up dairy, lets go with that. A big problem with our system is that quota is bought and sold in a free market (not very "Marxist") driving the cost of starting or expanding a farm way up without added value to the product. On the other hand, quotas have allowed independent family farms to remain viable without the massive government subsidies used in the US. US dairy subsidies amount to $4B USD per year. US consumers have to pay for milk products whether they use them or not. Corrected for differences in population and the dollar, that would amount to a subsidy of $526M CAD in Canada. Canadian dairy farmers receive no government subsidies. Which system sounds more "Marxist"? The US industry also relies heavily on growth hormones and steroids to increase production. Particularly in the Southern US, farmers also benefit heavily from cheap labour provided by undocumented immigrants. Hormones are banned in Canada and milk from any cattle being treated with steroids or antibiotics is not allowed into the system. Canadian farmers have no such access to cheap labour and our climate requires that dairy cattle must be sheltered in winter, not just left out in the kind of giant lots you see in southern California. It also makes for a stable industry, rather than the boom bust cycle now inflicting New Zealands industry, which by the way had consumer prices so high, in spite of some of the lowest producer prices, that they recently prompted a government inquiry. The EU has also begun reducing quota limits and since then, prices to producers have gone down while consumer prices have gone up. To bad you can't put dogma aside and look at how the world really works. Then you might be more careful what you ask for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bush_cheney2004 Posted September 18, 2015 Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 To bad you can't put dogma aside and look at how the world really works. Then you might be more careful what you ask for. In the real world, many BC consumers by their milk in the USA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReeferMadness Posted September 22, 2015 Report Share Posted September 22, 2015 In the real world, many BC consumers by their milk in the USA. They're welcome to it. They can have the growth hormones that you guys use to boost milk production. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overthere Posted September 22, 2015 Report Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) The country (east and west) has other agricultural marketing boards, both provincial and federal. Most are favoured by farmers because they prevent boom and bust cycles in their industries. They have also given Canadian farmers the ability to successfully resist the pressure to use things like growth hormones and steroids in Canadian poultry and dairy cattle. No, dairy ,cheese and egg controls are favoured by farmers because the mandated supply management eliminates competition and guarantees fat profits for a privileged few. Please, lets not pretend there is some noble motive here. Thanks. Canadian dairy farmers receive no government subsidies. Who needs them when your friends in government have the game totally rigged so that there is no actual competition? Edited September 22, 2015 by overthere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bush_cheney2004 Posted September 22, 2015 Report Share Posted September 22, 2015 They're welcome to it. They can have the growth hormones that you guys use to boost milk production. I'm sure they're American style cereal doesn't know the difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 19, 2016 Report Share Posted February 19, 2016 Sask. farmers call for return of Canadian Wheat Board The elimination of the Canadian Wheat Board has led to a loss of $6.5 Billion in revenue for farmers over the last two years. It seems like the Harper Government move to hand over the marketing board to Saudi and American agribusinesses for nothing, has been a disaster. "Marketing Freedom" has turned out to mean less income for farmers and much more for large agribusiness companies. What a surprise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69cat Posted February 19, 2016 Report Share Posted February 19, 2016 (edited) Yeah, what a surprise. Best prices ever for our wheat in recent years, able to sell to who we want, when we want, how much we want and get paid upon delivery. And our grain remains higher priced right now than the US grain. You have to dig pretty deep and far to find an example of that under the CWB. But sure, bring back the CWB and keep the free market too. If they are so damn good at maximizing profit through the premium grain we produce for those that sell to the CWB then they will get all the sales. Get out there and lobby for the CWB. You and the other 50 "farmers" that are calling for it. Might be able to dig up another 500 more "farmers" in the western provinces to support it. May find some who are actively farming too. They are out there. Probably the same people that dont grow peas, lentils, mustard, canola, flax etc, you know, those grains that generate a much better ROI than wheat ever did under the CWB, because it was just to hard to market their own grain so they grew wheat, wheat, wheat, wheat...... Funny how people beleive everything they read. Explain how it cost us $6.5B. Note that farmers were selling grain into the US and making a profit where as the CWB made that illegal. Were they somehow loosing money by having this market access? Oh yeah, and when US wheat is higher price than Canadian wheat and every urbanite tells us we are getting ripped off by the grain companies, i dont know, maybe we will grow more of something other than wheat. That free market concept. Which is the concept why wheat grown in recent years has increased noticeably. Edited February 19, 2016 by 69cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69cat Posted February 19, 2016 Report Share Posted February 19, 2016 (edited) From a forum post mar 14, 2015 "Based on current export pricing (as given to us by US/CAD governments) for 13.5% spring wheat at the export market -- Portland is $8.10US/bu ($10.25CAD/bu); Vancouver is $8.81CAD/bu. ############################################## www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/bl_gr110.txt Current Saskatchewan elevator Bid is $6.00CAD. (From USDA report) current Montana Bid is $6.10US. or $7.72CAD." I dont know anyone who would have sold at $150/tonne in 2014. I guess for a politically biased article you could find the lowest price for feed grain and make a bar chart with it. Most guys were $240/tonne plus. Notice a few years are omitted in that bar chart? No probably dont. And lets not forget the money the CWB pocketed when we sold grain for $4/bu and they sold it into the market at $10/bu and more. Those numbers were easy to track back in the day by asking what our buy-back price was after we were forced to sell to the CWB to get it back to sell in some other fashion. Sure, the CWB was all for the farmer and not a government run cash machine. Liberals like to think that way. Thank god for the Harper government, a government with the balls needed to do what is necessary. Edited February 19, 2016 by 69cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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