A farmer's right to choose

Oh look, here's another Conservative sellout...

After weeks of mounting pressure, Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl announced Tuesday that Prairie barley farmers will get to vote on the future of the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly. Strahl told a Commons committee in Ottawa the plebiscite will be held next year, with a voters' list and questions to be announced after the wheat board's director elections currently underway this fall. The move comes just one day after Strahl released a task force report that recommended the federal government set up within two years a new, voluntary Canadian Wheat Board that would be completely owned by farmers. The report recommended the monopoly on barley be removed first, followed by wheat six months later. "Many of my own MPs have been saying, 'Let's ask the question,' " Strahl told the committee about why he finally decided to hold a barley plebiscite... Supporters of the board's monopoly say it gives farmers the best prices in a fiercely competitive international market, while opponents counter they should have the right to try to get better prices for their grain. Farm groups that have long lobbied for a dual market say they're disappointed in Strahl's decision. For them, the issue isn't about what the majority wants, but in giving choice to any farmer who wants to sell their own grain.

Exactly. The whole point of taking away the Wheat Board's monopoly is to let each farmer choose for himself -- not to let the majority coerce the minority. If the Board does as good a job as its proponents claim, it should be able to persuade farmers to sell their grain through it, not threaten them with fines and imprisonment.