Editorial

Who Benefits from Dismantling the Canadian Wheat Board?

Although it was not one of the “five priorities” set by the Conservatives during and after the last federal election, the dismantling of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) now appears to be at the top of the Harper government’s agenda. However, it seems that the Conservatives seriously underestimated the support for the CWB amongst Canadian farmers and have now backed themselves into a corner over the issue. In addition, Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl’s initial insistence that the CWB monopoly on selling western wheat and barley could be eliminated without a plebiscite of eligible farmers not only contravened the law but also exposed the sham promise of the Conservatives and their Reform-Alliance predecessors to bring democracy to Ottawa through regular referenda on important issues.

When confronted with the legalities of the Canadian Wheat Board Act (which he appears never to have read), Mr. Strahl was forced to back down and propose a plebiscite on ending the monopoly of the CWB on barley sales. As big producers increasingly dominate barley production, the Conservatives seem to think that opponents of the CWB monopoly could win such a vote. However, Strahl has refused to promise a similar plebiscite of wheat producers, knowing that such a vote is likely to go in favour of retaining the current status of the CWB. It seems that Strahl was counting on the election of anti-CWB members to the CWB Board of Directors in the recent elections to make such a plebiscite unnecessary. Supporters of the CWB allege that Strahl’s office even resorted to the illegal, last minute removal of the right to vote from 16,000 farmers who were already on the voters’ list. However, despite all of the efforts of the Conservatives, four out of the five newly-elected directors support the single-desk status of the CWB, so that status cannot be legally changed without a vote by farmers.

The question naturally arises as to why the Conservatives are so determined to dismantle the CWB that they would risk the wrath of prairie farmers and the potential loss of several seats in parliament to ram it through. Why are they so determined to block the democratic will of farmers on this issue? To answer that question, it is only necessary to look at who would benefit from the dismantling of the CWB and, clearly, that is not prairie farmers.

The main beneficiaries of an end to the wheat board would be the big grain monopolies - particularly Cargill and ADM which are the biggest American grain companies. These monopolies, along with ConAgra, Louis Dreyfus and Bunge and Born, are contending among themselves to control all of the world’s grain supplies. Canada and Australia, together representing close to 20 percent of world wheat exports, are the only countries where wheat is marketed through government-established marketing boards and is, therefore, outside of the control of one or another of these huge monopolies. The destruction of the CWB would greatly enhance the profitability of the big grain monopolies because they would be able to dictate prices to thousands of individual producers rather than having to deal with farmers collectively through the WCB.

Furthermore, with the refusal of the U.S. and the European Union to end their massive subsidies of grain exports, many developing countries are considering setting up their own centralized grain marketing boards, using the CWB as a model. If such a practice were to become widespread, the profits of the handful of international grain monopolies would plummet. Therefore, they are determined to destroy the CWB as soon as possible.

Thus, it is understandable why Cargill and ADM have financed much of the so-called “grassroots” opposition to the CWB over the past couple of decades. It is also understandable why the U.S. government and the European Union have put so much pressure on successive Canadian governments to dismantle the CWB. Responding to the demands of Cargill, ADM and other big U.S. agribusinesses, the U.S. government, has launched repeated trade challenges over the past 20 years, alleging that the CWB unfairly subsidizes Canadian wheat and barley producers. All of those challenges have been rejected by the relevant trade dispute bodies, but the challenges continue.

In addition to the U.S. agribusiness monopolies, the Canadian railway monopolies – CN and CP – are also major proponents of dismantling the CWB. At present the railways, which transport almost all of the wheat and barley produced in western Canada, must negotiate rates with the CWB, acting on behalf of all prairie farmers. If the wheat board did not exist, farmers would be forced to individually negotiate the transportation rates charged by the railways. It is obvious that, in such a situation, the railway companies would be able to set whatever rates they desired since they could literally hold farmers to ransom.

In these circumstances it is obvious that the seemingly irrational drive by the Conservative government to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board, even at the risk of losing the next election, does not come from pressure from below, from their constituents, as they claim. Rather, the pressure is coming from the highest levels of the monopoly capitalist class, from the massive agricultural and transportation monopolies, which are striving to further maximize their profits at the expense of Canadian farmers. It is heartening to see that Canadian farmers are not taking this attack lying down but are determined to fight for their own interests. Farmers deserve the support of the entire Canadian working class and people in this fight.

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