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- DEC 1 - Bill C-18: Time to scrap the Canadian Wheat Board
- NOV 4 - The CWB is steamrolling over the best interests of western farmers
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NOV 4 - The CWB is steamrolling over the best interests of western farmers
The CWB is steamrolling over the best interests of western farmers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OTTAWA (NOVEMBER 4, 2011) - The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) is at it again. Desperate to protect their monopoly on grain sales, the CWB is now trying to steamroll over western farmers once again.
“The CWB has denied western farmers marketing freedom for decades,” says Peter Coleman, President and CEO of the National Citizens Coalition. “Each and every year, western farmers are deprived of hundreds of millions of dollars because of this monopoly.”
With the Harper government now setting its sights on ending the CWB’s monopoly and providing farmers choice, the beleaguered agency has kicked off a highly-controversial, multi-million dollar advertising campaign to promote itself.
“In their new ads, the CWB asks you to stand together with western farmers – but they are the ones who are doing the most harm to hard-working farmers and their families,” adds Coleman.
In fact, the CWB’s recent advertising blitz has even been called illegal by several independent observers. The Canadian Wheat Board is barred by law from using farmers’ funds to advance a political agenda – but this is exactly what they are trying to do right now.
“The CWB is clearly trying to protect their lucrative monopoly, and in the process they are actually fighting against the people they are meant to be serving – western farmers,” adds Coleman. “There is absolutely no justification for the CWB to continue to oppose the will of western farmers.”
The CWB has claimed that it provides value for western farmers, but this is very far from the truth. The CWB has repeatedly refused to allow its marketing performance to be evaluated by the Auditor-General, which makes the true costs of the CWB very difficult to estimate.
It is not just the controversial advertising campaign that has landed the CWB in the hot seat – they are also using farmers’ funds to fight a costly legal battle in federal courts to uphold their monopoly.
“If the CWB executives want to go to court to fight against hard-working Canadian farmers, they should use their own money. It is an insult for the CWB to use farmers’ funds to fight against farmers’ best interests,” continues Coleman.
The National Citizens Coalition has been working hard for over twenty years to uphold market freedom for western farmers. In 1998 we helped defend Paul Bryan from criminal prosecution when he marketed his crops without the CWB – and we will not stop this fight until western farmers’ rights are upheld.
“Eastern Canadian grain farmers are free to market their grain however they see fit – and we will not stop our efforts until this double standard is removed and western Canadians are afforded the same privileges.”
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