After months of sabre-rattling on both sides of the single-desk marketing issue, the results of the Canadian Wheat Board’s (CWB) producer plebiscite have scored a moral victory over Ottawa — if not a legally-binding one.
Released on Monday, the long-awaited results show a majority of farmers wish to retain their ability to market wheat and barley through a single-desk system. More than 60 per cent of respondents voted in favour of retaining the single desk for wheat, and 51 per cent voted to retain it for barley.
“Today, we have heard from farmers,” said CWB board chair Allen Oberg, who spoke at a press conference from Winnipeg. “Tens of thousands of farmers, from across Western Canada — nearly 40,000 of them, in fact — their message is loud and clear, and cannot be ignored. They voted in overwhelming numbers to retain a unique and valuable marketing structure.”
Oberg railed against the intentions of federal agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and his government to remove the single-desk structure, and characterized this change as a shift towards exploitation of farmers by corporations and foreign conglomerates.
“Our plebiscite was a fair and honest process, and it was designed to give farmers a say in this monumental decision. This Canadian government is out of touch with farmers. For months now, Minister Ritz has been telling us that the federal election gave him all the mandate he needs to dismantle the CWB. But now we know otherwise — there is no mandate from farmers to strip away their marketing power, and hand it over to private companies. Farmers do not want to give up their power to the grain companies. They don’t want to sacrifice their profits for the sake of ideology, and they surely don’t want American and European multi-nationals to dictate their places, and share their returns.”
A total of 38,261 farmers submitted mail-in ballots in the plebiscite, a participation rate of 56 per cent, on par with the last three federal elections and higher than many municipal and provincial elections. 
“The number of producers, that voted shows how much this issue matters to them. As farmers ourselves, and as their elected representatives, the CWB, we will fight to have this democratic decision respected and honoured — because it is the right thing to do.”
“We’ll not sit back and watch this government steam-roll over farmers — we cannot stand back and watch politics trample our business interests. We intent to stand our ground and uphold farmers’ decision,” said Oberg.
The federal government plans to remove the CWB single desk by Aug. 1, 2012, as Minister Ritz announced earlier this year that enabling legislation will be introduced this fall and removing the current legal requirement that such a change first be approved by Prairie farmers through an official plebiscite.
Oberg pointed to the high participation rate as a confirmation that leaves no doubt what farmers want. 
“We’re calling on Minister Ritz to respect this decision of farmers. So far, he’s not been prepared to allow farmers a say, even though the law says he must. Instead, Minister Ritz intends to change the law to remove farmers’ voice, and replace it with his own vision for a grain industry controlled by giant corporations and foreign interests.”
Oberg wasn’t ruling our possible legal action through the federal court system, should the government continue to move forward with enabling legislation to remove the CWB’s single desk, without consulting producers.
“Minister Ritz can choose to act against what a majority of farmers has said. I guess if I was in his position, I wouldn’t be doing that. I would be taking my lead from farmers and listening to farmers. We’re going to table these results in Ottawa, put as much political pressure as possible on this government, listen to what the majority of farmers have said, and retain that single desk marketing structure.”
The future of the CWB single desk marketing structure has already become a provincial election issue in Manitoba, where the incumbent NDP government has vowed to take on the Harper Conservatives in Ottawa in opposition to removing the grain-marketing organization’s monopoly.
Oberg maintained the federal government is ham-handedly attempting to subvert democracy, something all Canadians should be concerned about.
“First of all, this is an issue about democracy. In 1998, the control of this organization was given back farmers, and rightly so, because farmers pay for the entire cost of its operation, so they certainly should have the opportunity to decide its future. In fact, that ability is enshrined in the current act. I just think it’s fundamentally wrong for a government to change a law to avoid a democratic function — because that’s really what is being suggested here.”
The independent plebiscite was conducted for the CWB by MNP, a chartered accountancy and business advisory firm.