To the Editor:
(Editor's Note: The following is a letter written in response to a recent letter published in The News Review entitled, 'The government's abuse of power.')
Senator Bob Peterson's article reinforces how out of touch the Liberal Party of Canada is with Western Canadian farmers.
During the most recent election campaign, our Government reaffirmed its commitment to give Western Canadian grain farmers the right to sell their products on an open market. This is a freedom enjoyed by grain farmers in other parts of Canada and around the world. In wanting to keep the status quo, the Liberal Party of Canada is once again showing Canadians that the individual rights of some people are more important than others. To penalize farmers based on their province of residence is ludicrous.
As I have consistently said, individual rights do not need validation through a plebiscite. To dictate that because some farmers wish to pool their grain, all farmers must pool their grain is an encroachment on the individual freedoms of Western Canadian grain farmers.
By ending the Canadian Wheat Board's single-desk monopoly, the Harper Government is delivering on our long-standing commitment to give all farmers the freedom to choose how to market their grain. The people of this country deserve, and expect, nothing less.
Rather than conduct an expensive survey financed on the backs of Western Canadian grain farmers, we encourage the Canadian Wheat Board to work with us in the best interests of farmers as Western Canada makes the transition to an open grains market.
Agriculture Minister, Gerry Ritz
