jdobbin Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...78-43fc00626e51 The Conservatives seem adamant about dismantling the Wheat Board. Most of the annual polling shows that famers support the board but the Conservatives will probably try to kill it this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerryhatrick Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 It's called ideology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BubberMiley Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 They did, however, clearly state their position during the election. And virtually every farming community voted Tory as a result. I'm totally opposed to it, but I live in the city and don't even know anyone who farms. I guess if the farmers are opposed, they're going to have to vote different next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdobbin Posted October 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 They did, however, clearly state their position during the election. And virtually every farming community voted Tory as a result. I'm totally opposed to it, but I live in the city and don't even know anyone who farms. I guess if the farmers are opposed, they're going to have to vote different next time. I don't know if it was an endorsement of the dismantling the Wheat Board. Not everyone in a rural area is a grain farmer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BubberMiley Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 Not everyone in a rural area is a grain farmer. No, but every farmer is in a rural area. Ooh, unless they're corporate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renegade Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 It is hard to understand why the CWB should be granted a monopoly position, however I disagree that they shoudl be muzzled in being able to make their case Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdobbin Posted October 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 No, but every farmer is in a rural area. Ooh, unless they're corporate. True. I guess the farmers will have to take credit for dismantling the Board then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbg Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 Didn't some farmers get sent to jail for selling outside the Wheat Board? Sounds like something that deserves to die to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdobbin Posted October 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 Didn't some farmers get sent to jail for selling outside the Wheat Board? Sounds like something that deserves to die to me. Shouldn't that be up to the farmers who support the single desk seller? A majority support the Canadian Wheat Board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leader Circle Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 Didn't some farmers get sent to jail for selling outside the Wheat Board? Sounds like something that deserves to die to me. Shouldn't that be up to the farmers who support the single desk seller? A majority support the Canadian Wheat Board. Can you get us a link supporting this post? Kinda sounds like whiney left wing BS to me! Scrap the corrupt CWB and give the control back to the people who deserve it, THE FARMERS! The only farmers who support this communist CWB are the lazy ones who have no idea how to market their own wheat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdobbin Posted October 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 Can you get us a link supporting this post?Kinda sounds like whiney left wing BS to me! Scrap the corrupt CWB and give the control back to the people who deserve it, THE FARMERS! The only farmers who support this communist CWB are the lazy ones who have no idea how to market their own wheat! Since a majority of rural voters supported Conservatives, I would say they are more Conservative, don't you? And there have been several polls about support. Last one this year had support at 73% among grain farmers. If the decision is to be made by the famers, a majority support the Wheat Board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hardner Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 As a non-rural person, I have to ask - why would they want to give up a monopoly ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Figleaf Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 deleted in protest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry J. Fortin Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 The CWB only hurts western farmers. It does not apply to anything east of Manitoba, its an example of the federal practice of discrimination against provinces. By getting rid of the wheat board the Tories will open the door to a nice big American company to come in and take over the monopoly. The entire mess was designed to screw western Canadians to death one way or another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hardner Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 The entire mess was designed to screw western Canadians to death one way or another. It's easier to convince people of a point if you couch your argument in more neutral terms. Unless you really mean to say that it was an open, understood, agreed-upon goal for the Canadian government to launch a program with the expressed intent ot screwing Western Canada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Figleaf Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 deleted in protest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkman Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 Farmers. They get screwed by insects. Screwed by rain. Screwed by heat waves. And when harvest time comes, they work 18 - 20 hour days, fighting old machinery they are too poor to replace, to get the grain to market. Only what they get is so little they need a full time job to feed their kids and keep the banks at bay. This is the way it's been for a long time. The present system sucks. To make a decent income as it stands now you have to talk the bank into letting you own huge tracts of land with a million worth of new machinery and pray your first crop is a bumper. The banks look dimly on such loans, so the average grain farmer is stuck in the middle working extra jobs just for the priviledge working himself to death. I don't know why grains are so cheap. There are plenty of people starving aroung the world, but the prices seem to stay pretty low. I don't know if dismantling the wheat board is the answer, but it seems like they haven't helped that much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hardner Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 I guess the Conservative response is: find another way to make a living. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkman Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 The conservative response of possibly closing down the wheat board is a change. It might actually help farmers, so they don't have to find another way to make a living. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy1979 Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 The only problem is that, under NAFTA, there's no turning back the clock. Once it's gone, it's gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Dancer Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 The only problem is that, under NAFTA, there's no turning back the clock. Once it's gone, it's gone. The $100,000 question is, do the small family farms matter? Cause like NAFTA, when the price bottoms, once they're gone, they're gone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hardner Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 The $100,000 question is, do the small family farms matter?Cause like NAFTA, when the price bottoms, once they're gone, they're gone They matter because they represent future assets for the large conglomorates that will buy them, and future minimum wage jobs for the new Canadians that will be imported to work there. At least we'll finally see minorities in Saskatchewan, I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watching&waiting Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 The Wheat Board had its uses and for many people they will remember when it did make the price of bread jump here in Canada, and the farmers were happy with that. But like most things like this the pendulum swings both ways and yes when it swing to lower prices, then the farmers wonder at the reason they are forced to sell to the wheat bord when they can get higher prices across the border. China's diet has started to change a bit from rice based to a more wheat based, and will in time push prices back up. Canada seemes to have huge stockpiles of grain just waiting for buyers, but the purpose of being able to hang on for higher prices, is no longer a feasible thing. It is a shame that the family farm is no longer able to support themselves, but the factory farms have been better able to make do with margins so low that only the volumes of the large operation can make it today. I live in a farming area in the east. Here the maker of the money is milk farming, and we have quotas that must be bought and sold to be able to do this withinthe law. Now those family farms who are doing good are those who invested in quotas that were large and farm 1000 acres or more to sustain their herd costs and some corn crop as well. This is not a hard way of life but more of a long days in summer and less so in winter. Many have done very well, but the small guy getting into this will not be able to do so with $200,000.00 and a willingness to work. The factory farms are mult-million dollar investments and they do set the margins because they can live and run with in tigher controls. The small guy could not buy a 1000 acre farm for under $1,000,000.00, and then he will need equipment and silo's for storage etc and that will be at least another $500,000.00. Then he would need to buy some milk quota on top of all that. No where else in this country would you get such a low return on such a hih investment. There should be laws where starting farmers are given mild quotas and it woul be gauged to the ammount of land they have. The huge quotas held by the factory farms should be decreased to equall the amount of land they have as well. Then maybe there would be a chance. I would imagine it would be the same out west but for grains. There should be quotas that are land based and anythign they grow over that they can sell abroad. That way it would even it a bit, but it would not by any means make it a sure bet. We have screwed up our countries marketing ability with government involvment, and we will never be able to correct that. There was just too much interference back then and we now have got the system we never wanted. Only thing is to try again this time abd be smarter in what we do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 Since the Conservative party was, is, has always been, and will always be the party for protection of the strong and wealthy against the poor and weak, it is only natural that it would prefer the voice of large wealthy farms who can safely weather bad prices and better profiteer during times of high prices.There you have Victimology 101, the basis of North American Leftist thought. Anyone "oppressed" deserves government protection. I have a suspicion that farmers like the Canada Wheat Board if it offers higher prices than in Chicago but dislike the CWB if its prices are lower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdobbin Posted October 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 The CWB only hurts western farmers. It does not apply to anything east of Manitoba, its an example of the federal practice of discrimination against provinces. By getting rid of the wheat board the Tories will open the door to a nice big American company to come in and take over the monopoly. The entire mess was designed to screw western Canadians to death one way or another. The reason why farmers wanted the Wheat Board is because Winnipeg traders dominated the market. Historically, the market hasn't be great to grain farmers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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