It's not a cry to Occupy Estevan, that's so yesterday.
But the best way to test the local waters is to call a meeting or a rally or whatever label you want to give it, and see if anyone is interested in showing up.
That's what one local producer in southeast Saskatchewan is attempting to do to catch the feeling of farmers in this part of the province regarding the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) and whether or not they feel there is a need to fight for its retention as a single-desk entity in the Canadian wheat and barley marketing process in Western Canada.
Leonard Haukeness said that he has booked the Estevan Royal Canadian Legion Hall for the afternoon of Saturday, March 31 and so far it appears as if MP Ralph Goodale, a former minister responsible for the CWB and a former agricultural minister in a federal Liberal government has indicated his willingness to attend the session as has a newly deposed CWB director for southern Saskatchewan, Rod Flaman who was relieved of his elected director's duties at the CWB last month by the current federal government that has introduced legislation to discontinue the CWB in its current form.
"There are only government appointed directors and administration running the Wheat Board now," said Haukeness.
"We fought hard to get the CWB to adopt producer elected directors, now they've been dismissed," he said.
"The meeting will gauge the interest in the local area, to see if local farmers want to support legal action regarding the removal of the CWB. If there isn't much interest shown, then I'll cancel the hall rental," said Haukeness. Since a little bit of interest needs to be reflected prior to the meeting date, Haukeness said it would be appreciated if local producers would give him a call at 634-4318 or 421-9297 or e-mail at [email protected] and let him know if they have any interest in the topic and the ongoing legal test that is playing out in the court rooms right now.
"Mr. Goodale is going to a Pangman rally for sure on April 1. I don't know his tentative schedule but there is an indication he would be interested in attending a meeting here. Mr. Flaman will attend for sure and address the issue if we have the meeting and we're inviting Ed Komarnicki, our MP, to attend and talk about the issue too as the government sees it," said Haukeness.
"I just have a feeling there are a few farmers out there who aren't quite ready to lie down and declare that it's a done deal, that the Wheat Board is, for all intents and purposes, done. I know some producers were upset, but we don't know exactly how upset. So the question has to be raised ... do farmers want control of the CWB or not?
"If I receive just small reaction to this call-out, then we'll just cancel the meeting."
Haukeness said he felt there was still some interest in the issue because there are many elements that remain up in the air regarding what a new CWB would look like and what kind of mandate it could forge out of what was left. He said things such as the fate of the Port of Churchill were probably going to be up in the air as is the question of availability of rail cars for producer loading activities, grain blending, transportation and so on, along with the main element of the potential loss of the strength of the CWB, the single-desk marketing advantage.
"It takes a little money and energy to mount a challenge to the government's decision so some of us are interested in testing the local reaction to see where local producers are really standing on the topic," Haukeness said in conclusion.
