Canadian Wheat Board

 2020 hindsight: Ending the Canadian Wheat Board was an economic tragedy

August 1st 2020 marks the 8th anniversary of one of the great economic tragedies in Canadian history. This was the day the wrecking ball swung by then Prime Minister Stephen Harper and former Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz finally destroyed one of the most important institutions working for economic justice for farmers - the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB). In a malicious act driven by wrong-headed doctrine, they chose to eliminate the CWB through the Orwellian-titled Marketing Freedom for Farmers Act. Read more

2nd Letter to Auditor General re public expenditure on CWB privatization

In January 2018 the NFU wrote a letter to the Auditor General of Canada to request a public audit on post-2012 spending related to the Canadian Wheat Board. We recieved a response from him and have followed up with another letter, as follows. Read more

Union Farmer Newsletter: January 2018

OP Ed: Looking a Gift Card in the Mouth: What Loblaws’ price-fixing is signaling about the future for Canadian farmers Op Ed: Renegades Rewarded at Public Expense in Site C Read more

Omnitrax not solely to blame for derailing Port of Churchill

Despite the strategic importance of Churchill, North America’s only Arctic deep water port, the rail line from La Pas was never easy to operate. However, the severe problems of today are predictable results stemming from two catastrophic blunders made by the Canadian government. Read more

Without the CWB, farmers are losing millions of dollars every year

After 5 years of the loss of the Canadian Wheat Board, farmers have turned back the clock 100 years. Read more

Canadian Wheat Board

In 2012, Bill C-18, the Act to end the single desk, farmer-controlled Canadian Wheat Board, became law— in spite of a Federal Court ruling that the Bill had been introduced contrary to the rule of law. The NFU was active in trying to stop the dismantling of the CWB, and continues to support actions to regain farmer control and to recover farmers' assets. Read more

OmniTRAX Inaction Cuts Off Churchill Indefinitely

Saskatoon, SK—The Hudson Bay rail line to Churchill has been shut since late May due to flooding that damaged the tracks. It has been over two weeks since the photos were released and caused Churchill mayor Mike Spence to call for "immediate action to repair the railway." What is OmniTRAX doing? Read more

Port of Churchill Latest Casualty due to loss of Single Desk CWB

It was a previous Liberal government that privatized the railroads and allowed the sale of the Port of Churchill and Hudson Bay rail line to a Denver-based company called OmniTrax. Read more

Letter: Public Audit of Canadian Wheat Board’s Assets and their Disposition to G3

PDF version of the letter The Honourable Ralph Goodale House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6 Email: ralph.goodale@parl.gc.ca Dear Minister Goodale, Re: Public Audit of Canadian Wheat Board’s Assets and Read more

Ritz locks farmers out, hands CWB keys to Bunge and Saudi king’s fund

<strong<span class="fa-solid fa-angles-right"</span(April 15, 2015)</strong<span class="fa-solid fa-angles-right"</span “Today Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced that G3, a joint venture owned by two foreign corporations, Bunge and the Saudi investment company SALIC, is the beneficiary of CWB privatization. With this, the Conservative government has accomplished the biggest transfer of wealth away from farmers in the history of Canada,” said Jan Slomp, National Farmers Union (NFU) President. “The CWB’s physical assets, its commercial relationships, and its good name have all been given away. The “buyers” of the CWB actually get to keep the $250 million pittance they are “paying” for it. Bunge’s 2014 sales totalled $58 billion and multi-billion dollar SALIC is a subsidiary of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, PIF.” “Where is the financial report or accountability? This is our money and taxpayer dollars,” said Ian Robson, NFU Board member from Manitoba. Read more