News
Bill C-46 provides power back to growers
In a column from Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, it is stated that the federal government has listened to Western Canadian barley growers, and provided Bill C-46 to help in marketing barley.
March 18, 2008 By Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
March 18, 2008
OTTAWA –This Government listens to farmers and is working hard to give Western Canadian barley producers the freedom to choose how to market their own barley.
Our Western Canadian barley farmers can compete with anyone in the world and they are more than qualified to make their own marketing decisions. That is why this government introduced Bill C-46 to make barley marketing freedom a reality in Western Canada.
Sixty-two per cent of Western Canadian barley farmers demanded marketing freedom in last year’s plebiscite and through this legislation this government is delivering that freedom.
This Government is going further by delivering an efficient dispute resolution mechanism for farmers and grain elevator companies to give them an opportunity to voice any concerns before an impartial arbitrator.
Drawn-out legal battles cost Western farmers on both sides. Farmers pay for their own lawyers as well as the CWB’s through the pooling accounts. The arbitration mechanisms in this legislation are a standard process that gives farmers a cost-effective and timely way to hold the CWB accountable for its commercial behaviour.
This Government listens to farmers; we work with them and then deliver for them. The Government of Canada believes farmers themselves are most qualified to make their own marketing decisions and we are working hard to give them the freedom they deserve.
