Rural Canada Relies on the Canadian Wheat Board

In the ongoing debate about the future of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), one of the arguments for dismantling it is to allow farmers to find their own markets and presumably a better price for their wheat and barley.
On the surface, independence seems a good thing. However, it brings to mind an analogy: many if not most Canadians own at least some mutual funds, usually in their RRSPs. One could study and become an expert on investing and do the buying and selling that mutual fund managers do on our behalf, but we do have other ways, some useful, to spend our time. So we pay a fee, hopefully a reasonable one, to a mutual fund to do that work for us.
Yes, wheat farmers could track the price of wheat daily and sell their crop to a grain company at just the right time for a really good price.
However, unless they run a really large operation, the larger number, prefer to stick to farming and leave the grain trading to the paid staff at the CWB. The CWB offers a number of advantages to wheat farmers. First is price pooling which protects from abrupt price shifts so that farmers don't have to deliver their wheat exactly when the price peaks.
If the single desk goes, so will the producer car loading sites. Producer cars mean farmers can bypass grain companies' elevators and save themselves $1,200 per hopper car. The producer cars use branchlines and shortline railroads - what will happen to them and the communities along them?
As economist Murray Fulton said, "The . . . loss of the CWB's single-desk . . . would make the Canadian system . . . more like that in the (U.S.) . . . Grain company and railroad competition would fall, . . . the current freight revenue cap would disappear, and less value would be returned to farmers . . . These changes . . . are irreversible."
We can imagine a modern feudal system with farmers at the mercy of multinational corporations who'll decide what to grow and how much to grow.
Farms will have to grow bigger; there'll be fewer small- and medium-farming operations and the loss of small, rural communities with their schools, hospitals, community centres and other services. One could drive through rural Canada and find virtually no inhabitants.
Do Harper and company and their corporate friends care about rural Canada? It seems not.
Mark Sandilands
Lethbridge
Published in the Lethbridge Herald, Sunday, July 17th.  http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/letters-to-the-editor/rural-canada-relieson-cwb-71711.html

Canadian Wheat Board

If you're interested in reading a thorough analysis of the Canadian Wheat Board, here's a start. It's from the Saskatchewan desk of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Excerpt:
"Without the Wheat Board, the big grain companies would totally take over. Farmers would just be contract growers, restricted to the company's varieties, their chemicals, their prices and conditions. For transportation rates and service we'd be at the mercy of the railroads, with no representative body strong enough to take them on."

http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/sasknotes-harper’s-renewed-attack-canadian-wheat-board

Corporate tax cuts not in best interests of Canadians --letter to the editor of the Lethbridge Herald

Editor,

Even though the election is over, the debate about corporate tax cuts continues, as shown in recent letters to the editor (2011- 04-22, 2011-05-05) and news stories stating Flaherty is set to go ahead with corporate tax cuts. Aside from the fact that there is no clear link between corporate tax cuts and job creation (for example:http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/corporate-income-taxes-profit-and-employment-performance-canadas-largest-compa), a serious item has been almost totally ignored in the debate.  Munir Sheikh, former head of Statistics Canada and of tax policy at Finance Canada, pointed out in a Globe and Mail column on April 20th (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/a-canada-us-tax-gap-means-a-canada-us-tax-transfer/article1991567/) that USA taxes US corporations on their world-wide income.  If there’s a tax cut elsewhere, such as in Canada, US corporations are required to pay more American tax on their Canadian profits, since the US rate is about twice as high as ours is. This transfer from the Canada treasury to the US treasury amounts to between $4 and $6 billion a year. These missing billions will have to be made up with higher taxes paid by individuals or cuts to services—health care, the environment, food inspectors.
One wonders why the Conservatives plan to go full speed ahead on corporate tax cuts in light of these facts. Cutting taxes is the ideological mantra of conservative governments.  Let’s hope ordinary Canadians tell Mr. Harper and Mr. Flaherty to govern with them in mind, not ideology or the best interests of large corporations.

Reality Check

REALITY CHECK: Will Harper withdraw his made-up ads?

Coming off a week where the Conservatives were pretty testy about misquotes in TV ads, Stephen Harper released ads that were full of made-up stuff.

Here is each attack on Jack Layton in the newly released Conservative ads, and the facts (citations are from the Ads themselves.)

HARPER SAYS: “Layton planned a coalition with the Bloc Quebecois before our votes were even counted (How we Almost Gave the Tories the Boot, Brian Topp, p. 46)”

HE MADE IT UP: The only mention of the Bloc on page 46 is a reference to the number of seats they won: “The campaign went well. We emerged with 37 seats, our second-largest result in our party's history. The Tories won 143 seats; the Liberals 76; the Bloc 48. We finally had a clean balance-of-power position in Parliament. As directed by Layton, I had re-activated our scenarios committee during the course of that 2008 campaign.... We reviewed party election proposals and reached roughly similar conclusions as we did in the 2006 exercise. We could see some areas of common ground with the Conservatives (consumer protection, crime). We could also see somewhat more common ground with the Liberals. On the other hand, we were now going to have to deal with a fundamental policy disagreement with the Liberals, passionately committed as they were to Mr. Ignatieff's tax-shift, carbon-tax plan.” – Brian Topp, How We (Almost) Gave the Tories the Boot, p. 46

HARPER SAYS: “Layton was willing to make Duceppe the “Driving Force” in the Coalition (Toronto Star, October 6, 2010)”

HE MADE IT UP: Full citation: “In a book released this week Duceppe casts himself as the driving force behind the Liberal-NDP coalition agreement.”  – Chantal Hébert, Toronto Star, October 6, 2010

HARPER SAYS: “Layton didn’t tell you until after the election”

HE MADE IT UP: Jack Layton has been clear about his plans to work with other parties to get results for Canadian families.

Seamus O'Regan: Do you believe so strongly in that that you would entertain even the notion of entering a coalition with the liberals in order to keep the conservatives out of power?
Jack Layton: I have worked with any other party. Maybe it goes back to my days on municipal council. You role up your sleeves and you try to solve a problem. Right now the problem we have is Stephen Harper and his Conservatives.”
–Canada AM, September 22 2008 (22 days before the election)

Making stuff up in TV ads is more proof that Ottawa is broken.

Campaign Update

CAMPAIGN UPDATE:

We have completed 3 weeks of this election – with 2 more to go. Here are some observations from this point in the race:

1. WE HAVE AN EXCELLENT CAMPAIGN TEAM! About a dozen men, women and youth make up the core of my Election Team. They have:
1. good skills
2. great team cohesion,
3. intense moments of problem solving,
4. also times of laughter.
2.  NATIONALLY – this has been a good three weeks for New Democrats.
1. Jack Layton has proclaimed the vision and message very clearly:
1. Solid issues on environment, health care and government ethics support the NDP platform.
2. The Conservatives, nationally, have stumbled through one glitch after another,
1. Most recently, the ugly Helena Guergis publicity;
2. The barring of potential dissenters from Tory rallies;
3. Edmonton Strathcona Conservative candidate, Ryan Hastman, confessing he is "losing";
4. and many more.
3. LOCALLY – there is lots to celebrate
1. An energetic phone canvas 4 nights a week, with cell phones we have purchased;
2. Coffee parties just now in full swing;
3. A sign campaign we are winning!
4.  My own solid track record on the environment and social issues that wins support from many wavering voters;
5. A fluid mood out there (which we hear repeatedly through the phone canvas) that many voters are considering other options besides the standard Conservative one for this riding.
4. LOOKING AHEAD – We look forward to the round of all candidate forums, which will give us a chance to speak clearly to local voters, and challenge other candidates. We will also be reminding the many undecided voters that NDP candidates have run second in the last two federal elections in Lethbridge, and in this riding are the obvious choice for those who have had enough of Harper’s domineering, controlling style, shabby ethics, outrageous environmental stance, tenuous support for health care and more.

April 6th Event

Prison Farm issue is still alive.

I've recently received information from Prison Farm supporters in Kingston:  Here's the message:


Hello, prison farm supporters,
Next Wednesday, Feb. 2, MPs will be voting on the Public Safety Committee's motion to halt dismantling the prison farm program, conduct an independent review of the program and report back to Parliament.
Leading up to the vote and in order to witness the vote, we are planning events and actions described below. Please participate in as many of these actions as possible to keep up the pressure on the Conservative government to reverse its wrong-headed prison agenda.
We hope a strong show of support for the prison farms will result in a victory on this vote.
Remember, we live in hope...

Four of the things they're planning are:

1. Write to MPs (particularly your own MP), and ask friends and family across Canada to write to their MP (especially if the MP is Conservative);
2. Monday, Jan. 31, at 9 am -- demonstration at the entrance to Frontenac Institution;
3. Monday night vigil at Frontenac Institution;
4. Wednesday, Feb. 2 -- bus trip to Ottawa to witness the vote on the prison farm motion.

Now, unless you live in Kingston, the last three will be difficult, but you can write to your MP.  Given the timeframe, a fax or a phone call would be better.

For Lethbridge people, here's the information for Rick Casson:

Ottawa: Tel: (613) 996-0633 Fax: (613) 995-5752 Lethbridge Tel: (403) 320-0070 Fax: (403) 380-4026 255 - 8th Street South Lethbridge, Alberta T1J 4Y1 For other MPs: http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/MainMPsAddressList.aspx?TimePeriod=Current&Language=E Here's a sample letter: To my Honourable Member of Parliament, On February 2, you will be asked to vote on the prison farm issue.  A favourable vote will place a moratorium on further dismantling of Canada's six internationally-recognized prison farms, until an independent study researching the value of the farm program is completed and communicated to Parliament, allowing for a constructive dialogue on the provision of rehabilitation for inmates.   I believe that the prison farm program operated by Correctional Service of Canada offered an effective rehabilitation and training program for inmates (in addition to providing food for the prison system).  In polls conducted by the CBC and the Globe and Mail, over 90 percent of Canadians voted to retain the prison farm program. I understand that this will be a free vote, and trust that you will vote for Canadian values of democracy and rehabilitation, and endorse the value of farming in Canada.  As my representative, I ask that you vote as you should — representing your constituents. On February 2, please vote to save Canada’s prison farms -- and demonstrate that you are listening to the vast majority of Canadians that believe that providing constructive rehabilitation for inmates increases public safety.  It is time to be smart on crime. In peace, respect and friendship, FInally, here are some links to articles about the issue: Mauri restorative justice    http://www.sfu.ca/~palys/Tauri%20chapter%20on%20Maori%20the%20CJS.pdf  Coalition of churches condemns Ottawa's justice plans    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/coalition-of-churches-condemns-ottawas-justice-plan/article1884171/ Why Canada' prisons can't cope with flood of mentally ill inmates    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/why-canadas-prisons-cant-cope-with-flood-of-mentally-ill-inmates/article1879501/ Article from The Nation on ending the war on crime    http://www.thenation.com/article/end-war-crime  Newt Gingrich's column opposing prison expansions in the US    http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/article_0f359876-c028-5269-9c47-4df21f3ddf4c.html Editorial in The Star opposing expanding prisons (relates to the Newt Gingrich column)    http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/922295--expanding-prisons-getting-it-right-on-crime