Farm groups are turning their attention from the courts back to the Commons on the issue of Prairie barley marketing.
In news releases Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board and Western Barley Growers Association reacted briefly to Tuesday’s court ruling against the federal government’s plans to deregulate barley marketing by order-in-council, and focused on Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz’s plan to attempt the same outcome by legislation.
WBGA president Jeff Nielsen of Olds, Alta., urged the minority Conservative government to introduce legislative reforms “immediately” and urged Prairie barley growers to show support for reform by rallying Friday (Feb. 29) at the steps of the Saskatchewan Legislature in Regina at 12:30 p.m.
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“Going to legislative reforms, and introducing them as soon as possible, is a priority, as we need to see these changes done in time for the new crop year Aug. 1,” WBGA vice-president Tom Hewson of Langbank, Sask., said in the same release.
“We need the support of the opposition parties to acknowledge the fact that without the ability to see dramatic growth in barley now, we do risk serious economic harm to all of Canada.”
Ritz recently said he would introduce such legislation by the end of this month. However, he added, the CWB “has sufficiently stalled things long enough” and will “survive” until after the next federal election when, he predicted, the Conservatives come back with a majority. Then, he said, “all bets are off.”
Survival for a Conservative bill to remove barley from the CWB’s marketing jurisdiction is seen as unlikely at best in the current minority Commons. Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale told reporter Allan Dawson in Thursday’s Manitoba Co-operator that the party couldn’t support any bill that essentially calls for “evisceration” of the CWB or violation of farmers’ control of the board.
The NDP also opposes such legislation and the Bloc Quebecois, which backs supply management in other farm commodities, has also expressed opposition.
Removing Prairie barley from the CWB’s single marketing desk would allow it to become a “crop of choice,” rather than one of last resort and low return — and more barley production would in turn encourage value-added development, Nielsen said.
“Without growth in the Canadian barley sector, we will see economic losses to those value-added sectors that rely on what once was our supply of top-quality barley for their needs, namely our maltsters and brewers; and, without a constant quality supply of feed barley, shackle our already struggling livestock feeding sector,” he said.
“Back in court”
Meanwhile, the Friends of the CWB — the group that first launched the Federal Court challenge of the federal government’s June 2007 order-in-council for an open barley market, leading to Ottawa’s unsuccessful appeal Tuesday — warned Ritz in a separate release that an attempt to legislate Prairie barley deregulation would wind up “back in court.”
The group said any legislative amendments to the Canadian Wheat Board Act would first require consultation with the CWB’s board of directors and a producer vote in favour of excluding barley from the CWB’s single desk.
The Friends group, spearheaded by National Farmers Union president Stewart Wells and former CWB director Wilf Harder, said Tuesday that it advised Ritz “not to waste any more farmers’ or taxpayers’ money on flawed plebiscites, misleading ad campaigns or ill-advised court appeals.”
