The Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association has written to Hon. Gerry Ritz, Federal Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board asking him to use his authority to instruct the CWB to stop interfering in the director elections. Last week, the CWB took the extraordinary step of issuing two commentaries in an attempt to influence voters.
“It is inappropriate for the CWB to be taking sides in the Wheat Board elections,” says Kevin Bender, President of the Wheat Growers. “The CWB should stay on the sidelines and leave it to the candidates, farm groups and other commentators to debate the election issues.”
The first commentary issued last week, entitled “Change costs less than doing nothing” attempted to justify the significant increase in CWB administrative costs that have occurred in the past 10 years. A review of director candidate profiles reveals that at least two candidates (Brian Otto in District 3 and Vicki Dutton in District 5) are raising concerns about costs at the CWB.
“One would hope that directors who are standing for re-election are perfectly capable of defending their own record,” says Bender. “If any candidate wishes to hold incumbent directors accountable for their decisions, they should be entitled to do so without having the CWB campaigning against them.”
The second commentary, entitled “Feed barley debate misses the point” took issue with organizations and individuals, including candidates, who have been critical in recent weeks of the CWB’s approach to marketing feed barley.
In what appears to be an admission of wrongdoing, the Wheat Growers note the CWB has recently altered the commentaries to remove some of the more inflammatory and political language. Despite these alterations, the Wheat Growers maintain that the commentaries continue to represent inappropriate interference in the election campaign.
In its letter to Minister Ritz, the Wheat Growers have asked the Minister to intervene in an effort to restore some semblance of neutrality in the CWB election. Specifically, the Wheat Growers have asked the Minister to instruct the CWB to remove the commentaries from its website and to stop making statements on election issues, including any comment relating to its costs, performance or policy advocacy positions.
