Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 10, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba A12 Winnipeg free press comment editor Gerald flood 697-7269 Winnipeg free press editorial Board members Are Bob Cox Gerald flood Catherine Mitchell Tom Oleson Dave Obrien cartoonist Dale Cummings submissions to the View from the West Are Welcome. Contact comment editor Gerald flood 204 697-7269 / six month View from the West Archive available online at View thursday August 10, 2006 let the Farmers decide conservatives abandon roots in assault on wheat Board a measure of How far the present conservative government has moved from its Reform party roots can be found in its approach to the Canadian wheat Board. When he was a Reform party my prime min ister Stephen Harper was a Strong promoter of direct democracy As was his agriculture minis Ter Chuck Strahl. Their party favoured referendums on All manner of issues from constitutional change to ratification of landmark treaties with first nations people. Preston Manning used to like to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson who said there was no safer place for the Powers of society than with the people them selves. And if you think them unfit to exercise self government with a Hope of discretion the remedy is not to take self government from them but to inform their discretion Jefferson said. The government moves to end the Cwb a monopoly on Export sales of wheat and Barley. The party ran on the Promise to establish a dual Market in the last Federal election and it got elected on it. Fair enough. But to now suggest that it can be done without recourse to the Farmers it affects is a sign that the tories Are Only too willing to put politics ahead of process. If Prairie Farmers want to end the boards monopoly there is a mechanism for them to do it. It is spelled out right there in Section 47 of the Canadian wheat Board act. What it says is the government can to arbitrarily add or subtract any grains from the boards marketing monopoly without first conducting a vote among producers. It could to be More simple. This is an act of parliament which is the voice of the Canadian people no matter How inconvenient. However Strahl seems to be looking at the question of a plebiscite As nothing More than a bothersome impediment to be circumvented. There Are several ways the government could do this. The most obvious is to Amend the act to Strahl claims that the fact that the conserva Tives won 80 per cent of the seats in Western Canada demonstrates ample support for its stand. But its not quite that simple. Many areas that supported the conservatives also voted for pro Board candidates in the last wheat Board director election. It does to matter whether its Southern Manitoba or Southwest Saskatchewan Home to conservative my David Anderson one of the boards fiercest critics. What you find is the majority of Farmers who vote in wheat Board elections support the single desk. What that tells you is that winning a plebiscite on removing the boards monopoly Powers is far from a slam Dunk. So instead of conducting a vote that it might lose the tories Are looking for another route to finesse the Issue without having to take it to the people. It might do that through regulation it might do it through amending other pieces of Legisla Tion or it might just Start issuing Export per mits to whoever wants them through Cabinet order. Of one thing you can be sure. The government wants. One idea circulating in the tory caucus is that if a plebiscite is Ever held the vote should be weighted according to a Farmers production. The More you grow the More votes you would have in deciding the boards future. Obviously this Means the big Farmers who want a private Market would have a larger say in the outcome than the Small Farmer who might be More inclined to support the Board. This is a Little bit like saying big business should have a bigger say in designing tax policy because it has a larger stake in the Economy. In other words the world belongs to those with the biggest Teeth. I a guessing that Given the option canadians would reject this concept of democracy. What Strahl and the conservative caucus need to be reminded of is a key principle of Good governance. Ian Mccreary a Saskatchewan Farmer and wheat Board director puts it like this collective action really needs to be driven by the peo ple it affects. To have Success in that environment the farm Community has to be the driving strategic Alliance boosts bargaining Power by Bill Toews c contrary to popular belief the Canadian wheat Board Cwb is not a monopoly buyer of Farmers Grain. It does not buy. It Sells. The buyers Are the people throughout the world who use our Grain to make bread and Cereal and pasta and Beer. The Cwb works because it has the Power to negotiate on behalf of All Prairie Farmers. Take that Power away As the Federal conservative government is proposing and Grain buyers will be Able to pit one Farmer against another so they can increase their profits by buying Grain at lower prices. This is not rocket science. It is the same Basic economic principle that drives people to form cartels and strategic alliances to increase their bargaining Power and ultimately their economic returns from the marketplace. Why should Prairie Grain producers be the Only ones in the agricultural Industry who can not take advantage of the Power created by coming together in this Way if we want to Structure our marketing system to sell through currently priced at Levels that make profits Dif of Canada ran on a platform of making the Sale one agent the Cwb we need to retain the right ficut to attain for Prairie Grain Farmers. This of wheat and Barley through the Cwb voluntary. To do so. When a majority of us no longer thinks has to do with International commodity mar now agriculture minister Chuck Strahl wants this is Best then All we have to do is elect people sets rising input costs including Grain Han to deliver on that Promise by looking at propos to represent us who share those views. It is not doing and transportation and the decline in the als to eliminate the Cwb a status As the Lone up to the government to make decisions for us value of the . Dollar compared to ours. Selling agent for Prairie wheat and Barley. But when our economic future is at stake. But it also has a lot to do with Market Power Farmers including a majority of the directors eliminating the Cwb a single desk will ? and with the fact that More and More of the like me who have been elected by Grain product severely weaken Farmers negotiating position Trade in Grain and other farm products is con ers to represent them at the Board table know with buyers and obliterate the Cwb a strength trolled by a very Small number of Large Multi that this is wrong. In an intensely competitive International mar National Grain companies that have sewn up we want to give ourselves the tools that we Ket place. Significant portions of the food value Chain. Need to be sustainable As Grain Farmers in West rather than weaken the Cwb the majority of these Are companies like Cargill Archer Ern Canada ? not because we Are ideologically Farmers who sit around its Board table would Daniels Midland Louis Dreyfus and Bunge. Driven but because we Are business people who like to see the Cwb strengthened by expanding they Are not evil they Are simply focused on understand that there is strength in numbers. Its reach and elbowing further into the private one main goal profit for their shareholders. No one can blame Farmers when we have our sector to quote the terms used in a Winnipeg they make profit by buying As Low As possible backs up against the economic Wall like we do free press editorial. Raw commodities like Grain from Farmers like today for wanting to take full advantage of that it mystifies me Why anyone would think that me and Selling High finished food products to Little truism. Grain Farmers who grow and sell crops other Consumers. Their profits in the past several than those marketed by the Cwb wheat and years have continued to grow even while Bill Toews operates harambee farms a Grain and Barley have benefited from the open Trade Farmer returns have dwindled to Levels that Are special crops farm at Kane Man. He sits As a with private interests As the free press editor completely unsustainable. Farmer elected director on the governing Board of Ial claims. The fact of the matter is that All these facts Are indisputable. The question is the Cwb. Crops regardless of How they Are marketed Are what do we do about it the conservative party licensing foreign skills is complicated t he provinces decision to allow foreign trained doctors to com Pete for training positions with Canadian medical students looks like the first crack in what seemed like the impervious Armour of the medical establishment to protect its own. Compounding the Issue is the shortage of med ical professionals ? not just Doc tors but also nurses technicians physio therapists ? in Manitoba when there Are those with training and experience in their countries of origin. Licensing foreign trained professionals like licensing locally trained ones is not a simple process. The Legislatures of each province have delegated the responsibility to the self governing professions. By statute governing bodies have been created that set the rules and requirements of admission to practice and standards which members must meet in order to continue to be licensed. The fundamental responsibility of each professions governing body the College of physicians and surgeons of Manitoba the Law society of Manitoba the Institute of chartered accountants and so Forth is to protect the Public from unqualified professionals. This involves the Quality of the professional a education the adequacy of apprenticeship Arti Clin interning and other on the Job training knowl Edge of the ethics of the profession and its rules and regulations of practice and being satisfied that the profession Al understands the privileges and responsibilities of his or her High Call ing. When applicants for admission have been trained in institutions of professional education and have Practised in jurisdictions with which the governing bodies Are familiar the acceptability of his or her credentials is Clear and Sim ple. This is generally the Case when the applicant has graduated from most Canadian american United kingdom australian new zealand and South african universities As Well As certain european and israeli ones. This list is not intended to be exhaustive. But when an applicants Alma mater does not meet the rigorous academic standards required by the governing body or the standards of practice in the country of origin fall Short of those required Here the applicant has a problem not easily resolved. The dilemma is How to assure Protection of Manitoban who will be served by the applicant. Although a foreign professional May have had Many years of Quality experience in his own country various Road blocks have been perpetuated to deny Access to Manitoba practice. Short of retraining again there have been few options but to seek other employment and wait for the Day when the rules might be relaxed. With the Healing professions at least there is some similarity of subject matter. One would expect the human body has a fundamental sameness in All parts of the Globe give or take variation for local environments and circumstances. Other professional standards Are not that simply addressed. To practise Law in Manitoba one needs a Basic knowledge and training in English common Law As varied by Canadian and Manitoba statutes and practice. Thus lawyers from abroad or from Quebec not trained in this tradition Are not eligible to practice Here. Similarly common Law lawyers from other jurisdictions particularly the ., frequently have deficiencies in terms of Manitoban or Canadian prac Tice which have to be made up. Other professions no doubt have similar adjustment requirements. The break that the non admitted International medical graduates Are to now get is that starting in 2007, they will be allowed to compete head to head with Canadian medical students for Post graduate training positions. This is a critical first step in the local accreditation process. Faced with a human rights complaint Over the appearance of discrimination the med ical leadership is initiating this significant change the first and Only jurisdiction in Canada to Date to do so. This should make us a Magnet for qualified foreign trained doctors. Ontario is adopting a much broader professions wide approach in the fair Access to regulated professions act which was introduced in the Legisla Ture last month. It would require 34 of the provinces professional regulatory bodies to have admission practices that Are in the words of Ontario a minister of citizenship and immigration Mike Colle More fair open and a fairness commissioner is to be appointed to make sure admission practices meet these targets. Colle Points out the conference Board of Canada estimates that the failure to recognize the skills and credentials of newcomers Cost our nation Al Economy As much As $5 billion per year. And the Royal Bank has calculated that if All new canadians were fully employed at their level of education there would be an increase in personal incomes of about $13 billion a the sooner the professions can reconcile Protection of the Public with fair reasonable and timely immigrant licensing admissions the sooner it will be win win for All Manitoban. ;