| Alcock's & Porozni panel's lop-side list of
organisations invited to make presentations
Below is the actual email received from Reg
Alcock's Canadian Wheat Board Electoral Review Panel's facilitator
JP Lewis and provides the list of organisations the panel invited to
appear before them.
----- Original Message -----
From: <Jon Paul Lewis>
To: <Eduard Hiebert>
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2005 8:34 AM
Subject: Invitation List
Good Day Mr. Hiebert,
Here is the list of organizations/groups that were sent written
invitations:
Western Canadian Wheat Growers
Association
National Farmers
Union
Western Barley Growers Association
Grain Growers of
Canada
Keystone Agricultural Producers
Agricultural Producers Association of
Saskatchewan
Wild Rose Agricultural Producers
B.C. Grain Producers Association
National Citizens Coalition
Agricultural Producers Association of
Saskatchewan
Alberta
Grain Commission
Alberta
Barley Commission
Alberta
Winter Wheat Producers Commission
Sincerely,
JP Lewis
Below, is the same list in
alphabetical order including my own further editorial comments.
Please note, JP Lewis inadvertently left off SARM from the list but
verbally advised they in fact did also receive an invite, which SARM
confirmed to me by peociding fax copy of their snail mail letter.
Listed in alphabetical order:
Agricultural Producers Association of
Saskatchewan
*Alberta Barley Commission
*Alberta Grain Commission
*Alberta Winter Wheat Producers Commission
*B.C. Grain Producers Association
*Grain Growers of Canada (GGC) The
national body
Keystone Agricultural Producers
*National Citizens Coalition (NCC is
no farm organisation! See Stephen
Harper, its former president)
National Farmers Union (NFU)
Saskatchewan Association of Rural
Municipalities (SARM)
*Western Barley Growers Association
*Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association
Wild Rose Agricultural Producers (WRAP)
* All wheat grower type organisations promoting
"choice" which as the effect of destroying the CWB single
desk advantage. Of these that appeared before the panel, all
advocated the adoption of the weighted ballot.
The wheat grower types are not representative of the mainstream
majority of farmers and farm organisations. Nor is NCC even
one! Yet more legitimate farm organisations like CFA (Cdn
Federation of Agriculture), the producer owned loading facilities
who have a direct stake in the CWB, including producer owned prairie
terminals were not invited!
PANEL PROVIDING UNEQUAL NOTICE TO THE INVITED ORGANISATIONS
I have a selection of copies of actual letters sent by the panel
members to the above list. Certainly some, likely all of the
asterisked organisations received invitation via a FAX, dated and
faxed on July 28!
The last three organisations without an asterisk, NFU, SARM and WRAP
received a SNAIL MAIL invitation dated August 8 and received August
10-12 (Wed-Fri)!
Notwithstanding the public advertising, the governments own Panel
related website only opened up on August 8 and did not detail who to
contact and how, in order to arrange an appointment before the
panel. Among the above list, including the Wheat Growers
received allotted times yet on Friday August 12 a high ranking
government official could not tell me how or where to call in order
to receive a time slot! The actual three days of hearings
began on Monday August 15! Hardly any time in a very pressing
harvest time for farmers to prepare and appear at meeting places
designed to accommodate detractor organisations and make access to
farmers more difficult by conducting meetings in the heart of
downtown in the few major urban centres that do exist on the
prairies.
To state the obvious and remove all doubt that the
import of this is not missed, the list of invites is a
"weighted list" - an entirely unbalanced and unrepresented
list. Who had inside knowledge on how to get to the panel is
another "weighted process".
In short a weighted panel extending a weighted invite list along
with a weighted process (who & when invited, 10 minute
presentations regardless of merit....) can only and predictably lead
to a weighted outcome.
I said this on the record before the panel released its findings and
say so now with even greater, condemnation, this entire process was
designed to push the CWB as far as Alcock could towards
privatisation without being perceived publicly as being hostile to
the CWB. And this from the Minister of the CWB!
Sincerely, and on the record,
Eduard Hiebert |
