Loss of Canadian Wheat Board behind Churchill failure
Port of Churchill
The closure of the Port of Churchill and the fate of Manitoba’s northern rail line is not an accident due to economic circumstance: it was the inevitable result of eliminating the single-desk monopoly of the Canadian Wheat Board.
There were ample warnings raised about what would happen if the Conservative government of Stephen Harper scrapped the wheat board. The threats to the northern rail line and the port were clear, and it wasn’t just farmers and politicians raising red flags. The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce had concerns about the economic effect on Winnipeg — losses of more than 2,000 jobs.
There will be arguments the rail line and the port are failing because they were not economically viable. In fact, it is cheaper for farmers in the eastern Prairies who want to ship their grain to do so through Churchill. Grain companies ship through their own terminals in Vancouver and Thunder Bay, Ont., where they can make more money — and farmers make less.
The power relationship among producers, rail and grain companies is the same as it ever was, as is the basic geography. There are two major railways, four global grain companies and thousands of farmers. The reason for the wheat board’s creation in the first place was so farmers could pool their bargaining power, and especially so that smaller players could compete on a global marketplace.
The board was a single entity looking out for farmers’ interests, and it had the power to do so in three basic ways.
No comments:
Post a Comment