Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Rosanne Wowchuk: choice denier

Recently, western Canadian farmers voted for freedom. A freedom already enjoyed by eastern Canadian farmers, BTW. Now, some people are screeching from the rooftops, "See! See! Farmers don't want to destroy the Wheat Board!" But of course when you read the actual results, you realize that what farmers want is choice. Choice to market their grain either with the WB or independently. 62% voted for that.

And then I was listening to CJOB and Kacey Wilson had on Rosanne Wowchuk, MB Agriculture Minister. NDP. And her responses made me wonder no more why the NDP, both provincially and federally, have no credibility.

(For the audio, click here and fast forward to 46:20.)

First off, she began by attacking the questions. That's right, don't accept the results;
attack the questions. Her quote: "...62% voting against the Wheat Board is not an accurate number...if you cancel out the flawed question which said 'do you want choice or maintaining the Wheat Board' in fact it was a very low percentage that said they wanted barley removed from the Canadian Wheat Board."

Then she goes on to be disingenuous about the will of the farmers:
"If you take out the flawed question and you just look at the results of the question 'do you want barley maintained under the Wheat Board?', those results far exceed the results that say 'remove barley from the Wheat Board'."

Yeah, ignore one of the questions. You think it's flawed, but I think it's perfectly legitimate. Do farmers want no CWB, CWB monopoly, or the CWB as an option? You could lump 2 questions together either way--say that 62.2% of farmers want the CWB not to be forced upon them (my take on it); or you could say that 86.2% of farmers want the CWB kept. (Of course, that last one ignores the fact that 48.4/86.2, or 56% of those who want to keep the CWB, want not to be forced to use it.) But I think it's clear: farmers don't want the CWB crammed down their throats. Oops. Western Canadians, as our eastern counterparts already have that choice. Funny, that.

Then, she completely blew away the argument (her own!) to keep the CWB: that with competition, the CWB wouldn't be able to compete. Uh, of course, haven't people been saying that if the CWB were good, it would be able to compete because it gets better prices?

"If the federal Minister is going to go to a dual-market system, he has to address the issues of infrastructure and how the Canadian Wheat Board will survive when they are in competition with buyers of grain."

And then:

"If he thinks that they can operate when they don't have an infrastructure system, no elevators, and no control on many things, I don't see how the Wheat Board can stay in barley marketing when they have to compete with the other people who have all the infrastructure."

I had a giant Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moment then. Is or isn't infrastructure already in place? And wouldn't free-market buyers create said infrastructure were it not in place? You know, to make things easier on farmers?

Oh, forsooth, howsoever did grain farmers ever make it without the hallowed Canadian Wheat Board?

Wake up, Wowchuk. The Wheat Board is hated by most farmers; most farmers want freedom to choose to whom they sell their grain. And it's obvious you don't. Sucks to be on the losing side, eh? You'll likely find that out in a big way later this year.

4 Comments:

At 7:43 PM, Blogger Browners Blog said...

Winnipeg Conservative
The Reform / Alliance Chuck Strahl Announcement that stated the CWB was not wanted is a skewed and utterly perverted process. The Reform / Alliance announcement demonstrates an absolute and complete loss of faith in the Canadian Farmer and a huge blow to Western Canada. 3/4 of Western Farmers want the CWB to stay in one form or another yet the Conservatives say they want it to go? Can you say Weapons of Mass Destruction ? Probe Research and Ipsos Reid say Manitobans and Canadians want the CWB, every farmer I have spoken to wants it the only people that do not are YOU the died in the wool Reform /Alliance types who do not want to part company with Harper and his extremists. This kind of misinformation does not promote faith in Government.

 
At 7:50 PM, Blogger Dave said...

Well.

When I see the "Reform/Alliance" tag added I know it's a past-loving socialist talking, someone who wishes it were the days of yore when the right was split and the Libranos could take an election unopposed.

But I digress.

Browners, you are being willfully blind. All the decision-makers have to go on are the results of the plebiscite. And when the results don't go your way you libs attack the process. (And to me, a perverted process is passing wads of cash in brown envelopes, ostensibly to save Canada, but really to fatten the pig.) And after attacking the process you become all indignant, "knowing" the facts to be different. Well buddy, I happen to know a LOT of Saskatchewan farmers whio want the CWB not only as an option, but removed completely. I can't prove my assertion anymore than you can, but I assure you it's true. So which is it? What's what farmers actually want? I'll defer to a plebiscite. You know, that democracy thing.

And Probe and Ipsos have never been off on their poll numbers, have they?

Have a nice day and thanks for dropping by!

 
At 12:51 AM, Blogger Dave said...

First off, watch the language and ad hominems. I let this comment go because you make some intriguing points but please stop the f-bombs and the personal attacks.

Now, if you continue to say that farmers don't want the option then you're being misled. I personally know lots of farmers who want the choice.

Why would the government have to give more subsidies to help the farmers? Because as I understand it, the farmers will be able to sell their grain whenever it suits them, not only when the WCWB sets a quota, thereby mitigating the need for extra money because they already have it coming in. This has been a major source of farmers' losses.

You keep talking about delivering the death knell to hundreds of jobs. Well, first off, if the WCWB is that good, then it will stay intact and the jobs will still be there. But second, if the workers are competent, with today's job market, they'll be able to find jobs sans problème.

I'm sorry about your mother's predicament, and that of the friend. It sounds like your mother is very honourable.

Falling back on the scary "Stephen Harper is Americanizing Canada" canard is pretty weak. After soldiers in our streets with guns, even you have to admit that. I'd like to see some proof of your allegations about the collusion, otherwise I'll just ask for your tinfoil hat.

And finally, you lefties all scream for choice (choice for abortion, choice for who/what kind of union is considered a legal union) and then come along and deny choice to farmers. Hypocrisy much? How about, then, instead of giving western farmers choice, how about forcing all Canadian farmers to sell through the Wheat Board? Hmmm?

(BTW, yes you sounded like an ass, attacking my appearance like that; it just about got your comment deleted. Don't do it again or your comment, no matter how compelling, will be deleted.)

 
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