CWB: Why did the elected directors get the boot and the unelected are still there?
December 17, 2011 - 3:54am
In all the articles i've read so far it's saying that since the legislation ending the wcb went into effect the elected directors are now gone, but the unelected ones aren't...they're still there...does anyone know why this is the case?
to me it should be the other way around. Are the farmers who want to stay with the WCB now supposed to deal with a bunch of unelected directors who all hate the wheat board and want to see it fail? To me this makes harpies decision even worse, if that's actually possible.
In all the articles i've read so far it's saying that since the legislation ending the wcb went into effect the elected directors are now gone, but the unelected ones aren't...they're still there...does anyone know why this is the case?
to me it should be the other way around. Are the farmers who want to stay with the WCB now supposed to deal with a bunch of unelected directors who all hate the wheat board and want to see it fail? To me this makes harpies decision even worse, if that's actually possible.
You answered your own question. It's the beggining of the end for the WCB.
P&P reported last night that a whole pile of court cases are starting up as a consequence of the legislation to kill the wheat board. Meanwhile, there was a press conference inside a barn with Gerry Ritz getting a round of applause as he announced the legislation had just received royal assent (and is now law?).
yeah i know, i'm just wondering what the justification is under the law, the act or whatever...how are they able to do it? And why hasn't this been more of an issue? Why hasn't the elected board been making more of a fuss about it?
because 99% of the media think this is just some arcane fight between farmers. It isn't of course but the media only covers farm related news with any depth when there is a crisis. So a few years from now when grain prices tumble, as they ineviatbly will, we'll get lots of stories on the hurt for western farmers and the media will pretend they have no idea what might be at the root of it.
The media has been pathetic on this, BA. I too was shocked to hear that the elected directors were fired. It was mention only in passing on a local CBC radio news broadcast. No background, no explanation - just something about the court cases proceeding but not as CWB?
And Selinger has been speaking weasel words about his discussions with Harper re: the fate of Churchill with the demise of the CWB.
Not indepth but at least more informative than what has been reported so far.
Elected Directors Kicked Out, Injunction Denied
http://www.globaltoronto.com/money/cheers+from+saskatchewan+farmers+for+...
judging from this it looks like the elected directors were simply fired by the appointed chair of the board, who was appointed by harper. Ritz jokes in the article they're on "winter vacation"...what a prick!
looks to me like harper knew he would be challenged to hold a plebiscite, and would be taken to court, so he installed his own guys in all the top positions so he could fire the board directors who would then have to carry on with the suit as individuals instead of as the WCB...
this way by the time it gets through the court system the whole things dismantled since the guys he installed are going to run it into the ground while the whole thing drags out.
It really is a prick move on Harper's part. Ritz was laughing during his photo-op with supportive farmers in Saskatchewan.
I can't sum up what has happened beter than this former CWB director:
Stewart Wells, a Swift Current farmer and one of eight directors relieved of his duties Friday, had even stronger words of condemnation for the Harper government's actions in pushing through Bill C-18.
"The government has had to lie, expropriate without compensation, deny farmers a statutory vote and break the law in order to get where they are today,'' Wells said in response to questions from the Leader-Post. "Canada is a very different place today than it was yesterday, and it is moving backwards instead of forwards."
Read more: http://www.leaderpost.com/news/Ritz+declares+victory+battle+over/5875260/story.html#ixzz1gxjZWPH0
The, "elected" directors were for farmer representation, elected by farmers. I would assume they have been shown the door as the cwb has to now begin acting like a seperate entity, and not a gov't program that gives lip service by allowing, "stakeholder input".
That's just my assumption.
So what is this new "seperate entity" role supposed to be about, Albertaborn?
And one would think that direct stakeholder input is an ideal that should be followed by all public programs.
Well, as I understand it, the cwb will eventually lose it's funding and become I presume some kind of independant business, competing for customers. I'm not certain how this is going to work, but from what I've seen on the news, there is a deadline where the gov't funding will end, as well as the guaranteed customer base.
That's why I assume they're getting rid of the non-permenant employee board members - starting to act more like a pravate company? I'm guessing here based from what I've seen on the news.
Well if the goal is to make it into a private, competitive entity, the Harper Government™ should have at least made the taxpayers some money by selling it to Cargill while the CWB still had clients.
Well, as I understand it, the cwb will eventually lose it's funding and become I presume some kind of independant business, competing for customers. I'm not certain how this is going to work, but from what I've seen on the news, there is a deadline where the gov't funding will end, as well as the guaranteed customer base.
That's why I assume they're getting rid of the non-permenant employee board members - starting to act more like a pravate company? I'm guessing here based from what I've seen on the news.
They don't get funding, more rightwing nonsense. This is crap and you know it. Sniff sniff, I smell a troll. If it was more liek a private company they would fire the farmers and hand big bonuses to the CWB heads throwing the company into the shitter and then fudging the books till someone found out and they went toes up.
The, "elected" directors were for farmer representation, elected by farmers. I would assume they have been shown the door as the cwb has to now begin acting like a seperate entity, and not a gov't program that gives lip service by allowing, "stakeholder input".
That's just my assumption.
Complete and utter horseshit. The CWB is not and never has been a government program. It has always been about farmers using thier collective market power to get the best prices for farmers and its only connection to government was its creation. Of course couldn't just let farmers have that kind of power so they made sure that there were government people there to act in the best interests of the grain companies. The Liberals are no heroes on this issues either as they set the stage for the complete collapse of ethics by the Harper government,
By the way every long term study has shown that the CWB has ridden out price spikes better than any other method and has been of great economic benefit to farmers and shipping workers in western Canada.
Farmers have repeatedly elected, in open, fair, democratic and hotly contested elections, a majority of pro-single desk board members. Why is it the Conservatives hate democracy so much?
In the end the greed of a small but powerful, corporate "owned" group has been able to break all the rules of law and democracy in this country just so Cargill et al can make a few more bucks off the backs of farmers.
Stewart is right- the rule of law no longer matters in Canada- and the media sleep walks through it all.
Hear, hear, BA! Nice summary of what has just happened.