Good morning.
It is certainly my pleasure to be before the committee this morning to present Keystone Agricultural Producers' position on the Canadian Wheat Board.
Keystone Agricultural Producers is Manitoba's largest general farm policy organization. It is our job to represent and promote the interests of our province's farm families. Keystone Agricultural Producers represents approximately 7,000 farmers and farm families across Manitoba. It is from our role as the voice of Manitoba farmers that I am here today. I am pleased to present our position on the Canadian Wheat Board and the issues around a single desk.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the changes to the Canadian Wheat Board as currently proposed by government will be the beginning of a fundamental change in agriculture in western Canada. I will address some of the issues in a moment, but first let me be clear about this: we cannot underestimate the impacts that a move from single desk will have. Western Canadian farmers must have the opportunity to get the facts on what's at stake and what the implications will be.
Ultimately it has to be the farmers' right to decide. It is apparent that a plebiscite is absolutely necessary. Point one: legislation requires it--it is in section 47.1 of the Canadian Wheat Board Act.
Point two: government was not elected in western Canada on a single issue, and it was not just a farm vote.
Point three: farmers have a direct interest in the Canadian Wheat Board through the director elections.
Point four: from a business perspective the CWB is run by farmers, and farmers must have the opportunity to decide their future.
Since GATT was formed in 1984, our policy has been in support of the single desk; however, we have also supported changes made by the CWB to be more responsive to the changing needs of farmers.
Today our call for a plebiscite has nothing to do with being for or against the single desk; it has everything to do with the farmers' right to make this decision for themselves. It is critical that farmers and government take time to consider the consequences and the implications of any unilateral decision. We need to consider the fate of the issues that follow.
One issue is farmer empowerment. The Canadian Wheat Board is the only grain marketing structure that returns all proceeds from grain sales directly back to the farmers themselves. No other structure in Canada does that. We have seen the demise of the pools that were farmer-empowerment tools over the last number of years until none of those cooperative pools is left. They are now commercial entities amalgamated with other major and multinational companies, and they are answerable only to their shareholders on Bay Street.
Certainly there is increased industry concentration. We've seen the number of grain companies reduced significantly over the last number of years, and that has a huge impact not only on who you sell your grain to, but also on who you buy your imports from.
We have principles of cooperative marketing in place in the Canadian Wheat Board. It can't be either-or; there is no middle ground. In a cooperative system, the majority rules, and we see those examples in the supply-managed industry as well: producers under supply management work together to gain a better price for everyone.
There are trade implications with loss of the single desk. Certainly we've seen a number of challenges from the U.S. for grain moving across the border to the south; the Wheat Board, every time, has funded the fight on those challenges. If the single desk is lost, the Wheat Board no longer will speak for all farmers in western Canada. One single organization will not be there to take on that responsibility. There will be no agency there to fight those trade challenges, and the trade challenges will be inevitable; there are no two ways about that. We've seen the actions of the U.S. farmers in the past. We've seen the actions of the North Dakota Wheat Commission and others who don't hesitate to put countervail on our attempt to put anti-dumping challenges or trade issues in front of the U.S. government in the trade process.
A third issue is the effect on transportation. It is certainly not a stretch to imagine that the railways will begin to challenge their obligation to move western Canadian grain at the current freight rates. I expect they would move to try to gain parity with the U.S. freight rates, which are significantly higher than we experience in Canada. That in itself will lead to further chain reactions within our industry.
Another issue, one we've seen in the past, is service challenges. Who will be there to fight those services challenges, to complain against the railways' lack of service? In the past, the Wheat Board has taken on that challenge on behalf of all western Canadian grain farmers. If the single desk is no longer there and the Wheat Board doesn't speak for everyone, who will take on those challenges against the railways for service complaints?
The future of short-line railways in western Canada is certainly in doubt if we lose the single desk, as is the future of the producers' opportunity to move grain through the producer car system, which effectively bypasses the handling and elevator charges that most producers experience.
Also, a direct impact on Manitoba will be whether the use of the port of Churchill will continue at the current rate, or whether it will just disappear off the map, and all those jobs and implications along with it.
Regarding branding Canada, I don't think there's one other organization in Canada that plays such an important role for western Canadian farmers as the Canadian Wheat Board when it comes to branding Canadian wheat and barley. If we move away from single desk, will this continue, or will the wheat and barley that's sold out of Canada simply become a product of Cargill, Louis Dreyfus, Agricore United, and so on? Will we lose that branding Canada? This will have a significant impact on the international marketplace.
Will the influence of the Canadian Grain Commission be lost? If the multinationals take over the role and responsibility of making international grain sales, will they need the Canadian Grain Commission? Will they assume responsibility for quality assurance between buyer and seller? Will the Canadian Grain Commission lose influence in its role in disputes between farmers and with the multinationals?
Who will fund the Canadian International Grains Institute? That's an important tool in research, market development, and relationships with international buyers and customers.
The Western Grains Research Foundation is a research tool for western Canadian farmers that's funded directly from the final payment system to the Canadian Wheat Board. All western grain farmers who market grain through the Canadian Wheat Board fund that program, and it's invaluable in the amount of research it does for new products and new grain lines in Canada. Who will fund the Western Grains Research Foundation?
In closing, the move by this government has created a level of uncertainty in the international marketplace, as far as who will be marketing Canadian grain in the future. It has created uncertainty within the farming community at a time when we certainly don't need any more uncertainty than we have. We're already challenged as far as farm incomes and many other issues go. We don't need an added level of uncertainty.
There is no such thing as a dual market; a dual market does not exist. There is single desk, or there's a completely open market system. There is no in-between.
Government needs to respect the farmers' right to choose the future of the Canadian Wheat Board. The choice will not be simple. We will have to consider all of the issues I've just mentioned and many others besides.
Farmers must have the opportunity to make their voices known through a clear and neutral question on the future of the Canadian Wheat Board. It's not only the future of the Canadian Wheat Board; it's the future of the family farm in western Canada.
Thank you.