When announcing the saleof the former Canadian Wheat Board to a U.S.-Saudi joint venture, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz couldn't resist getting one parting shot in at supporters of orderly marketing.
No longer would Canadian farmers go to jail for selling their own grain, Ritz said. The only problem is, like many of the other statements Ritz made on Wednesday in Winnipeg, it's not entirely true. In fact, Canadian farmers (a few of them anyway) went to jail for refusing to pay fines for breaking the Canadian Wheat Board Act. So their crime was not only flouting the law of the land, but also the judicial system that enforces the law.
As the "final step in marketing freedom," Ritz said the sale of 50.1 per cent of the CWB to G3 Global Grain Group for an investment of $250 million will lead to "increased competition in the Canadian grain market and significant Canadian ownership through the farmers trust.''
Does selling the CWB (albeit stripped of its 'single desk' marketing power and most of its staff) to Bunge Canada, a subsidiary of the U.S. conglomerate Bunge Ltd., and SALIC Canada, a unit of Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Co., increase competition in the grain sector?
Since the number of competitors in the grain trade remains the same, there's no increase in competition. Moreover, the new CWB will have far less market clout than the old CWB, which was the world's largest marketer of wheat and barley until it was dismantled by the Harper government.
Will the new CWB have "significant Canadian ownership'' by dint of the 49.9 per cent of the company held by in trust for farmers through the Farmers Equity Plan? The plan would give farmers $5 worth of shares in the new CWB with each tonne delivered.
But can these "shares" be traded on a stock exchange, or voted, or sold to anyone beside G3? No. As Stewart Wells of the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board observed wryly, at least with Canadian Tire or Monopoly money, you know what you're getting.
In any case, the majority owners, G3, can buy out the minority shareholders after seven years, effectively ending any vestige of producer control of the CWB.
What about the $250 million "investment'' by G3 in CWB? On the face of it, $250 million for controlling interest in an enterprise with $3.4 billion in assets in 2011-12, including thousands of hopper cars, inland and port terminal facilities, Great Lakes ships, etc., seems like a sweet deal.
Who knows if G3 will have to invest $250 million or any money at all?
As Winnipeg NDP MP Pat Martin noted: the promised $250 million is no more than that, "a promissory note that they'll invest $250 million in the future."
For his part, Ritz maintains the post-monopoly CWB was virtually bankrupt and had to be supported by $177 million from the federal government in 2011-12, part of $349 million in federal money earmarked for 'restructuring costs' due to the loss of the monopoly.
But since fiscal 2011-12 - the last year the CWB operated under the single-desk - no annual report has been issued by the CWB, leaving taxpayers to guess at what they have at stake.
What will become of that $177 million or $350 million from taxpayers, or the countless millions of dollars that western farmers had in pool accounts or invested in assets acquired by the Canadian Wheat Board? Who knows?
But we do know this. Many of the promised benefits of marketing freedom have failed to materialize. The bonanza of higher grain prices, the value-added investments, and the more responsive grain handling system promised by the proponents of marketing freedom have come a cropper.
Instead, western farmers have lost more $5 billion thanks to a grain backlog caused, in large measure, by lack of logistics co-ordination, excessive "basis" charges by the grain companies and poor performance by the railways. Arguably, the real winners in marketing freedom have been the grain companies and railways. Farmers, not so much.
So when Gerry Ritz promises the CWB deal will "provide a huge benefit to the grain sector and Canada's overall economy,'' take it with a large dose of salt.
Original Article
Source: thestarphoenix.com/
Author: BRUCE JOHNSTONE
No longer would Canadian farmers go to jail for selling their own grain, Ritz said. The only problem is, like many of the other statements Ritz made on Wednesday in Winnipeg, it's not entirely true. In fact, Canadian farmers (a few of them anyway) went to jail for refusing to pay fines for breaking the Canadian Wheat Board Act. So their crime was not only flouting the law of the land, but also the judicial system that enforces the law.
As the "final step in marketing freedom," Ritz said the sale of 50.1 per cent of the CWB to G3 Global Grain Group for an investment of $250 million will lead to "increased competition in the Canadian grain market and significant Canadian ownership through the farmers trust.''
Does selling the CWB (albeit stripped of its 'single desk' marketing power and most of its staff) to Bunge Canada, a subsidiary of the U.S. conglomerate Bunge Ltd., and SALIC Canada, a unit of Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Co., increase competition in the grain sector?
Since the number of competitors in the grain trade remains the same, there's no increase in competition. Moreover, the new CWB will have far less market clout than the old CWB, which was the world's largest marketer of wheat and barley until it was dismantled by the Harper government.
Will the new CWB have "significant Canadian ownership'' by dint of the 49.9 per cent of the company held by in trust for farmers through the Farmers Equity Plan? The plan would give farmers $5 worth of shares in the new CWB with each tonne delivered.
But can these "shares" be traded on a stock exchange, or voted, or sold to anyone beside G3? No. As Stewart Wells of the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board observed wryly, at least with Canadian Tire or Monopoly money, you know what you're getting.
In any case, the majority owners, G3, can buy out the minority shareholders after seven years, effectively ending any vestige of producer control of the CWB.
What about the $250 million "investment'' by G3 in CWB? On the face of it, $250 million for controlling interest in an enterprise with $3.4 billion in assets in 2011-12, including thousands of hopper cars, inland and port terminal facilities, Great Lakes ships, etc., seems like a sweet deal.
Who knows if G3 will have to invest $250 million or any money at all?
As Winnipeg NDP MP Pat Martin noted: the promised $250 million is no more than that, "a promissory note that they'll invest $250 million in the future."
For his part, Ritz maintains the post-monopoly CWB was virtually bankrupt and had to be supported by $177 million from the federal government in 2011-12, part of $349 million in federal money earmarked for 'restructuring costs' due to the loss of the monopoly.
But since fiscal 2011-12 - the last year the CWB operated under the single-desk - no annual report has been issued by the CWB, leaving taxpayers to guess at what they have at stake.
What will become of that $177 million or $350 million from taxpayers, or the countless millions of dollars that western farmers had in pool accounts or invested in assets acquired by the Canadian Wheat Board? Who knows?
But we do know this. Many of the promised benefits of marketing freedom have failed to materialize. The bonanza of higher grain prices, the value-added investments, and the more responsive grain handling system promised by the proponents of marketing freedom have come a cropper.
Instead, western farmers have lost more $5 billion thanks to a grain backlog caused, in large measure, by lack of logistics co-ordination, excessive "basis" charges by the grain companies and poor performance by the railways. Arguably, the real winners in marketing freedom have been the grain companies and railways. Farmers, not so much.
So when Gerry Ritz promises the CWB deal will "provide a huge benefit to the grain sector and Canada's overall economy,'' take it with a large dose of salt.
Original Article
Source: thestarphoenix.com/
Author: BRUCE JOHNSTONE
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