[JaredMilne]

I was very pleased when I heard that the Harper government was going to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly over Prairie grain sales. However, I was dismayed when I heard that the Wheat Board would eventually be abolished in 2016, without keeping it as a public alternative for those farmers that still want to use it.

Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't keeping the CWB as an alternative for those people that want it, while leaving those farmers that want to market their product on their own free to do so, be a better way of maximizing marketing freedom? That way, they could choose between marketing to the CWB or a private company.

The results of the last CWB plebiscite-which were some 63% in favour of keeping the Board, if I recall correctly-suggest to me that there is a lot of support for keeping the CWB around in some form or another, for all that it's very important to not force farmers to use the Board if they don't want.

Comments from anyone are welcome, but I'm particularly interested in what my fellow Western Canadians have to say on this.

[BartSimpson]

Sounds to me like the CWB far exceeded its mandate and in doing so assured its own destruction.

[bootlegga]

The CWB was killed to allow private corporations to generate more profit, not to make life better for farmers. A link I posted last week showed that grain companies made more than a billion dollars more than they used to.

I also question whether the old CWB would have had more clout in getting last year's record grain harvest to market, instead of it sitting in silos as it is now.

[Robair]

The CWB was a single desk marketing system. You can't have single desk and open marketing at the same time.

There is no "keeping it around as an option" option. You either have single desk marketing or you don't.

The "third option" was just a ploy by those opposed to single desk marketing to gain support for stripping the board of it's single desk authority thereby destroying it.

The net change as predicted by yours truly and most farmers, is a transfer of wealth from farmer's pockets to grain marketing and transportation companies.

[Robair]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Sounds to me like the CWB far exceeded its mandate and in doing so assured its own destruction.

Nice sound bite.

It doesn't apply here.

Thanks for coming out.

[Jabberwalker]

The World is a very different place since these marketing boards were put in place. Free trading is the way of the future. Canadian farmers CAN compete but it sounds as if we need better infrastructure in Canada to get the grain to market. We used to have that but the railways both ripped up most of their track back in the 1960s.

[Robair]

The CWB was a very different marketing board than it was when first implemented.

The rest of that post is just your uninformed opinion.

If interested in getting informed you could start here: post1846872?hilit=%20freedom#p1846872

Little late to bone up on the topic now as the damage has been done.

[Jabberwalker]

So, they can't compete, then. Is that what you're saying? Time to get out of the wheat business if it has to be propped up withhold fashioned protective barriers.

[Robair]

Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:

So, they can't compete, then. Is that what you're saying? Time to get out of the wheat business if it has to be propped up withhold fashioned protective barriers.

Who are you referring to when you say "they", the CWB or prairie farmers?

[Robair]

Oh, and what barrier???

[Jabberwalker]

The CWB...

The prairie farmers can compete if they can get their grain to market in a timely manner (which they were not able to do this last winter by no fault of their own).

[BartSimpson]

Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:

The World is a very different place since these marketing boards were put in place. Free trading is the way of the future. Canadian farmers CAN compete but it sounds as if we need better infrastructure in Canada to get the grain to market. We used to have that but the railways both ripped up most of their track back in the 1960s.

Most of that track was out of use anyway. The old east-west alignments were done away when computers and track monitors came along to manage traffic and prevent collisions.

Your railroads transport something like 20 times the amount of freight they moved in the 1960's thanks to better consist management, the effective use of hubs, and the advent of containerization.

In California the benefits of the freight railroads abandoning surplus right-of-way has been ready-made transit corridors all over the state. Sacramento's light rail uses the partially abandoned right of way that was the very first railroad west of the Mississippi. Metrolink in Southern California uses hundreds of miles of abandoned Southern Pacific, Western Pacific, and Santa Fe right of way. And etc.

I'm sure Canada can leverage these assets the same way.

In any case, the state of Canadian rail is pretty awesome.

[Jabberwalker]

The old east-west alignments were done away when computers and track monitors came along to manage traffic and prevent collisions.


My (prairie bred) father was one of the designers of the CPRs original system to do just that. That same railroad ripped up their doubled track all over the country to pay dividends to their shareholders ... and no other real reason.

[BartSimpson]

Robair Robair:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Sounds to me like the CWB far exceeded its mandate and in doing so assured its own destruction.

Nice sound bite.

It doesn't apply here.

Thanks for coming out.

Thanks for agreeing with me in your post here:

Robair Robair:

The CWB was a very different marketing board than it was when first implemented.

[Robair]

Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:

The CWB...

The prairie farmers can compete if they can get their grain to market in a timely manner (which they were not able to do this last winter by no fault of their own).

The prairie farmers had in place what was probably the most efficient system on the planet for moving grain overland on a large scale.

Wanna know what they called it?

The Canadian Wheat Board.

You didn't follow that link I posted, did you? It's to another thread, one that took place when dismantling the wheat board was still just a Conservative plan, hadn't happened yet. Give it a read.