I am no expert on the Wheat Board. Nor am I an expert on the Accountability Act. But I just watched 30 minutes of the Senate Committee On Legal and Constititutional Affairs as they discussed bill C-2 (The Accountability Act) and Liberal Senator after Liberal Senator grilled Alan Leadbeater on the validity of including the Wheat Board in the Access to Information aspect of the Bill.
First it was Senator Lorna Milne (Liberal) stating she did not believe the Wheat Board fell under this section .
And then it was Senator Pierrette Ringuette (Liberal) who was pretty ticked at the apparent inclusion of the Wheat Board and questioning comparisons to other monopolisitic agencies.
And then it was Senator George Baker (Liberal) probing on how the Wheat Board differed from a private corporation and when it was explained to him, he got quite snippety with Leadbeater.
Are the Liberal Senators protecting something?
Leadbeater clearly stated that the Wheat Board itself has a list of information of which it will not disclose information on. Each of the items the Wheat Board lists IS protected by the Accountability Act. So what adding the Wheat Board does is make information they can provide information we can get as a right and not simply by their grace and generousity. i.e. when we ask for it, they MUST give it and not just provide it if they feel like it.
I noticed no Conservative Senator grilled Leadbeater on this subject.
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The Canadian Wheat Board is technically not a government agency, but a private one. This was changed in 1998 in order to avoid it from being a target in trade disputes with NAFTA and the WTO. It is much like our airports today are, which were created by the government, the assets still owned by the government, and the government appointing board of directors, but they are not government owned. Rather they are quasi private organizations that fall somewhere in between a government one and a private one leading to the debate. I think the Canadian Wheat Board should be accountable at the same time it should be able to keep information that would undermine its ability to act secret for a certain time period and then only release it at a later date.
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Sections 3, 6 and 18 of the Canadian Wheat Board Act state:
Duty to comply
3.12 (2) The directors and officers of the Corporation shall comply with this Act, the regulations, the by-laws of the Corporation and any directions given to the Corporation under this Act.
6(1)(j) to act as agent for or on behalf of any minister or agent of Her Majesty in right of Canada in respect of any operations that it may be directed to carry out by the Governor in Council
Directions by Governor in Council
18. (1) The Governor in Council may, by order, direct the Corporation with respect to the manner in which any of its operations, powers and duties under this Act shall be conducted, exercised or performed.
Directors
(1.1) The directors shall cause the directions to be implemented…..
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Miles (#1) and Farmer Joe (#2) thanks for the detailed info.
Miles, I got the impression it was a private group. In essence a type of co-op. With regards to the information that they keep private, that is protected. The Wheat Board lists information that they keep private on their website and Alan Leadbeater said that all of those items are protected. It is the “other” information that they choose to keep prerogative over that would be our right to get if this section of the Accountability Act is included.
Joe, can you elabourate what that information means with regard to the post? I am not sure. I just found it odd that their was strong opposition from the Liberals in the Senate on how easily the Wheat Board information that is not already protected can be accessed.
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from Committee Debate,
Mr. David Anderson (Parliamentary Secretary):
…For example, they can no longer find out through the Wheat Board’s annual reports how much money is being spent on communications, advertising and those kinds of things.
As a consequence of that and with the help of the NDP, we proposed an amendment to the accountability act that would help people to access that kind of information with regard to the Canadian Wheat Board.”
help from NDP:
from article:
http://www.davidanderson.ca/TopNewsStories_ektid217.asp
“What is further troubling is the fact that NDP MP Pat Martin brought the amendment forward in committee, only to vote against it in the House of Commons.”
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did you know:
Fraser Institute reported that
via Access to Information:
‘one Customs memo detailed that $1.5 million was spent between July 1994 and April 1996 for extra personnel “to deter offenders, mainly farmers associated under the name Farmers for Justice”(McLean, 2002, p. 11). Among other things, Canada Customs purchased body armor ($17,000), secure radios($184,000), and several types of surveillance cameras ($40,000). Clearly they were mounting a major operation against people whom they considered dangerous.’
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‘Documents obtained through the Information Act clearly show the CWB Officials and Government Deputy Ministers and Officials have filed 170 criminal charges against Western Grain Farmers while knowingly allowing millions of bushels of CWB grain to be exported through Ontario and Quebec into the US without Export Licenses.’
http://jake.farmersforjustice.com/marcello-dimarco.htm
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I read an interesting article in the Economist about the Australian Wheat Board, and the highly questionable business practices therein vis-a-vis Iraq.
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8363042
Perhaps there is more going on behind these desparate days at the CWB.
Australia’s mistake: they privatized, but forgot to deregulate the market. Did they send out invitations for corruption and ineptitude, as well?
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While the CWB is somewhat unique it is not a private entity, the point of my post was to show how it is indeed an agent of government.
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Farmer Joe (#8) thanks. I thought that’s what you were getting at. I get the impression that their are some who like having the CWB take a cut for the marketing and such and then there are some who would rather do it themselves. I think it is a travesty to force farmers to take part.
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Isn’t it ironic how all of the advocates of ‘minority’ rights are silent on this issue. You would think farmers getting thrown in jail for selling their own wheat would get them going.
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The CWB pumps tons of cash into left-wing political parties like the Liberals and NDP as an insurance policy to keep their monopoly, they have lots of money and power over people – exactly what leftists enjoy most, so of course they’ll fight to protect their privelege.