NEWS
RELEASE
OTTAWA
– Today in the House of Commons Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville,
asked the Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) why he is
unfairly penalizing Prairie grain farmers.
Here’s the exchange between Breitkreuz and Ralph Goodale, the Minister
Responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board:
Mr.
Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville, Canadian Alliance): Mr.
Speaker, the minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board has been notified
of alleged illegal activities at the Canadian Wheat Board in regard to licensing
costs. Legislation clearly
prohibits the Canadian Wheat Board from paying all export licensing costs out of
the wheat sales of western Canadian farmers yet the board has done it anyway.
How long has the minister known that this is happening and why has
he not corrected the problem?
Hon.
Ralph Goodale (Minister of Public Works and Government Services, Minister
responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and
Non-Status Indians, Lib.): Mr.
Speaker, the hon. gentleman alleges that I have been informed of something.
Quite frankly I have not been informed of it. If there are facts to be
discovered here I will find them out and I will take the appropriate action, but
he should make no allegation that I have not acted upon information that has
been known to me because it has not been.
Mr.
Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville, Canadian Alliance): Mr.
Speaker, the minister should read his mail.
The Canadian Wheat Board Act states that the minister may direct
the corporation with respect to the manner in which any of its operations shall
be conducted. So clearly the minister has a responsibility for licensing.
In addition to this, the buyback that farmers are forced to go through
does not have a legislative requirement. This has become like an extra fee for
Prairie farmers only. Ontario and Quebec do not have to buy their grain back in
order to export or process it. Why
will the minister not correct this problem as well?
Hon.
Ralph Goodale (Minister of Public Works and Government Services, Minister
responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and
Non-Status Indians, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, this is a matter that falls within
the purview of the management of the Canadian Wheat Board. That management is
responsible to the directors of the Canadian Wheat Board and the directors are
two-thirds elected directly by western Canadian farmers.
As long as I have been minister I have never given the Canadian Wheat
Board a direction. I believe its authority should rest with farmers.
Outside
the Prairies there is no provision, according to the Canadian Wheat Board
Act, for licensing costs to be paid out of farmers’ pooling accounts.
They should be paid for by the federal government.
“The Chairman of the CWB admitted to the Standing Committee on
Agriculture and Agri-Food on June 7, 2001, that licensing fees come out of the
General Pooling Account. Yet
Section 7(3) of the CWB Act clearly states that any licencing costs should “be
paid out of moneys provided by Parliament.”
This action by the Board is unjust and unfair in its treatment of Western
Farmers,” said Breitkreuz.
“The
Board’s secrecy has already created a mistrust of the CWB in the minds of
Prairie farmers. Now we see that
the Board is using the hard-earned money of western farmers to help pay for the
export licence fees for farmers in Ontario and Quebec.
Yet Prairie farmers can’t even dream of getting hold of an export
licence. How is this in the best
interests of Prairie farmers? Why should they help subsidize the licencing costs for the
rest of Canada?” asked Breitkreuz.
“The practices of the Wheat Board may have gone on for a long time, but that doesn’t mean that they are right,” concluded Breitkreuz.
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