Over 500 farmers from Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba gathered at McKenna Auditorium yesterday afternoon for a meeting sponsored by the Canadian Farmers for Justice (CFFJ).
The meeting addressed the issues of the Canadian Wheat Board's debt and what the CFFJ state as unlawful incarceration of Western farmers.
Dan Creighton, member of the CFFJ who acts as a legal representative for the organization, as well as Jake Hoepner, a Reform M.P. for Lisquar-Marquette attended the meeting as guest speakers. Ralph Goodale, Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board, declined the invitation to attend.
"Ralph Goodale declined because he is short on courage. We gave him a choice of any date between December 20 and February 3 that we would work around and he declined to attend at any time," said Art Mainil, a Benson, Sask. supporter of the CFFJ organization.
Mainil was expecting the large crowd yesterday and hopes more will become involved in the political issues the CFFJ deal with. "We would like as many people to play a part in this as we can get. We need an active crowd."
The CFFJ's mission is "to obtain dual marketing for Western Farmers by defending our legal rights", which according to Mainil does not mean the abolition of the Canadian Wheat Board.
"I personally want out for life, but I also defend those who want to stay with the Canadian Wheat Board. The issue is to have the freedom to market your own product wherever you decide, and we are denied that basic fundamental right by the Wheat Board," he said. Farmers are able to receive $2-3 more per bushel of wheat and barley in the United States than what they receive in Canada.
Many of the policies of the Canadian Wheat Board are disputed when it comes to the issue of exporting wheat and barley. According to a representative of the Canadian Wheat Board, farmers must buy back grain from the Wheat Board to obtain an export license. "First a farmer establishes a market for his grain in the U.S. and the amount of tonnage he will sell. He sells the grain to the Wheat Board and then he buys back his grain from the Board. We sell the grain back to the farmer at a price we can extract from the market," he said. When asked what grains carry restrictions on exports this representative said, "We have a monopoly on all classes of wheat and barley."
Mainil, Creighton and the other CFFJ members argue that neither the buy-back policy nor the monopoly is stated in the Canadian Wheat Board Act. During Creighton's address to the crowd, he said, "I don't know where that got started because they don't have a monopoly according to the law. There are offences in Canada that carry the highest fines available in our country for anybody that has a monopoly."
According to subsections 95(1) and 95(3) of the Customs Act, which was provided by the Government of Canada, anyone exporting wheat or barley are required to present a valid export license, issued by the Canadian Wheat Board, to the Customs Officers. This, too, is also disputed by the CFFJ. Creighton also claimed during his address that Andy McMechan and the recently incarcerated Clayton Desrochers were "not convicted for failing to provide a Canadian Wheat Board License to the Chief Officer of Customs."
Creighton suggested in his speech the reason he believes the Canadian Wheat Board is prosecuting farmers for exporting wheat and barley. "The CWB owes $8.5 billion, a debt created when Russia and Poland were unable to pay due to their collapse. If you start figuring out the interest on $8.5 billion you know where your $2-3 per bushel is going. It takes that to service the debt."
Creighton told the crowd it was time for people to take back control of the government. "The government has the attitude that they can do anything they feel like until the people stop them. We can put these people in and we can put these people out. But we have to stand up to these people who take away our rights."
When speaking of M.P. Hoepner, Mainil says he just might be the spokesman Western Canadian farmers need in Parliament, and during Hoepner's speech the general attitude of the crowd supported this statement. As Hoepner remarked that agriculture and farmers need to be rewarded for their contribution the crowd applauded.
When he promised to take on the advisory board for the Canadian Wheat Board for neglecting their duties, the crowd applauded once again. Hoepner claimed Canada is in a mess "because of elected, corrupt governments, weak-kneed politicians and bureaucrats." Hoepner received a standing ovation after his speech came to an end.
An unexpected appearance was made by Andy McMechan, a Manitoba man once incarcerated for illegally exportng grain. McMechan made the trip to encourage the farmers to make donations to the CFFJ or to the Desrochers family in support of Clayton Desrochers. Desrochers is the most recent Manitoba farmer to be sentenced to a jail term for illegally exporting wheat. McMechan says the only way farmers will be able to obtain a dual market is to stop selling grain to the Canadian Wheat Board.
"The Wheat Board's got your grain. The reason the Wheat Board's got your grain is because you keep offering it to them. Keep it in your bins. You're going to go broke anyway," McMechan told the crowd to applause.
Many Western farmers still remain supportive of the Canadian Wheat Board believing the only ones who benefit from a dual market are the larger grain producers who are able to haul their wheat to the United States. Mainil claims that a dual market will benefit all Canadian farmers.
"Twenty four hours after opening the market the prices would automatically adjust and even out. If the Canadian Wheat Board did not adjust their prices to remain competitive they would lose business. Looking at the prices of peas and lentils proves that, so that argument is a joke," he said.
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