Agriculture’s Strahl Delays Barley Plebiscite to Simplify Eligibility Process

By MICHELLE MACAFEE

WINNIPEG (CP) – Federal Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl is delaying a plebiscite on the future of the Canadian Wheat Board’s barley monopoly so the eligibility process can be simplified.

Ballots were supposed to have been mailed to eligible farmers in Western Canada on Wednesday, with March 6 the deadline for getting return votes in the mail. But Strahl said Thursday he has asked KPMG, the accounting firm handling the vote, to simplify the declaration forms farmers must fill out with their ballot.

He said he became concerned Tuesday night when he saw a final version of the ballot, which asked farmers to declare their barley tonnage and acreage for each of the last five years.

To be eligible, farmers must have grown any kind of grain last year and grown barley in at least one of the last five years. Strahl says the size of the crop isn’t important.

“Every single producer would have had to have gotten their accountant involved to fill out exact data,” said Strahl.

“That’s ridiculous, there’s no way I want that kind of detail on a ballot.”

Ballots will now be mailed out on Feb. 7 and returns must be postmarked no later than March 13 to be eligible.

The Conservatives are following through on an election promise to let farmers market their own wheat and barley. Strahl has promised a wheat plebisicite at a later date.

Critics were quick to denounce Strahl’s changes as further eroding the plebiscite’s credibility.

While KPMG’s original questions would have meant more work for farmers to declare their eligibility, Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter says it would have ensured that only farmers who have a real stake in the outcome could participate.

“This is clearly a way for the minister to manoeuvre the process and bias it even more to get the results he wants,” said Easter.

Strahl said no changes will be made to the question, which gives farmers three choices: to maintain the board’s monopoly, to scrap the board’s role as a barley marketer, or to allow the board to be an active participant in a free market.

The wheat board and its supporters have condemned the three-question ballot as meaningless and confusing. They argue it gives farmers a false impression that the board can survive without its monopoly.

Strahl insists it can remain viable, but others believe the board doesn’t have the infrastructure that would be needed to compete with large multinational grain companies.

Manitoba Agriculture Minister Rosann Wowchuk took no issue with a delay intended to simplify the barley plebiscite.

But she said Strahl should not stop with revising the eligibility form.

“I would encourage him at the same time, since he’s delaying, to simplify the question,” said Wowchuk. “Right now he has three questions that are not direct questions.”

The Western Barley Growers Association has lobbied the government to give a greater say to barley farmers who produce larger crops.

But president Jeff Nielsen says he understands that drawing that kind of line is complicated. He adds the plebiscite question is clear enough that farmers will know exactly what they’re voting for.