To the Editor:
Last Friday, public notice was given of some unidentified corporation "expressing interest" in taking over Regina-based Viterra Inc., Canada's biggest grain company.
Who might that proposed buyer be?
Most likely, it's a foreign bidder - maybe ADM, Cargill, ConAgra, Bunge or Dreyfus? Maybe it's a global commodities trader, like Swiss-based Glencore? And it's not clear whether a buyout would be welcomed by Viterra, or treated as hostile. But without doubt, all this flows from the demise of the Canadian Wheat Board's single-desk selling system, and the loss of its dominant focus on marketing prairie wheat and barley as premium-priced, distinctly-Canadian "products" (not just bulk commodities). And that's coupled with steady erosion in the quality assurance role of the Canadian Grain Commission.
Months ago, I asked the Harper government if they're ready to cope with a foreign takeover in the grain business. They vainly boasted that Canadian grain companies would be the ones doing the buying. Yeah, right!
After their frantic last minute flip-flip on potash 15 months ago, the Conservatives promised to produce new foreign investment rules:
to better define "net benefit" and "strategic asset";
to make the federal review process more transparent;
to make any conditions attached to a takeover transaction truly enforceable;
to specify a role for provincial governments; and
to deal with such issues as reciprocity and commercial behaviour by state enterprises.
But this government has been negligent. Not a wheel has turned on these issues since 2010, and now there's the potential loss of Canada's largest grain company, plus other deals looming in natural resources, the high-tech sector and others.
How does grain differ from potash? Is one "strategic" and the other not? And how does de-Canadianization help farmers? Are they better off with all decisions made in Minneapolis, Decatur or Switzerland, rather than Regina, Calgary and Winnipeg?
Ralph Goodale, MP, Wascana, SK.
