Bill Nicholson is a Canadian farmer and administrator, and is one of ten elected directors on the Canadian Wheat Board. Nicholson supports the CWB's single-desk marketing approach as the best option for farmers, and has opposed efforts to introduce open market competition to wheat and barley sales.
Canadians are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, several of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Canadian.
The Canadian Wheat Board was a marketing board for wheat and barley in Western Canada. Established by the Parliament of Canada on 5 July 1935, its operation was governed by the Canadian Wheat Board Act as a mandatory producer marketing system for wheat and barley in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and a small part of British Columbia. It was illegal for any farmer in areas under the CWB's jurisdiction to sell their wheat and barley through any other channel than the CWB. Although often called a monopoly, it was actually a monopsony since it was the only buyer of wheat and barley. It was a marketing agency acting on behalf of Western Canadian farmers, passing all profits from its operation back to farmers. Its market power over wheat and barley marketing was referred to as the "Single Desk".
" The CWB’s mandate was to pay farmers a base price for their grain, identify markets, negotiate the best price, deliver the goods, issue advance cheques and make final payment after the crop was sold. If the wheat market went up, farmers pocketed the profits. If the market went down, the government absorbed the loss. Nothing was subtracted from the farmer’s share except the cost of marketing and delivery."
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain which is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus Triticum; the most widely grown is common wheat.
Nicholson operates a farming business in Shoal Lake, Manitoba. He was first elected to the Canadian Wheat Board's Advisory Committee in 1994, defeating incumbent candidate Larry Maguire in the western Manitoba region. [1] This election was fought along clear ideological lines, with Maguire opposing the CWB's monopoly status and Nicholson supporting it. Nicholson, who was 38 years old at the time, was a delegate with the Manitoba Pool Elevators and a member of the National Farmers Union. [2]
Shoal Lake is a locality in the southwest of Manitoba, Canada. Originally incorporated as a town, Shoal Lake amalgamated with the Rural Municipality of Shoal Lake on January 1, 2011 to form the Municipality of Shoal Lake, which became the Rural Municipality of Yellowhead on January 1, 2015.
Larry Maguire is a politician and activist farmer in Manitoba, Canada. Formerly a Progressive Conservative MLA in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in a by-election on November 25, 2013. He is a member of the Conservative Party of Canada and sits on the House Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities and the House Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security.
Nicholson criticized the group Farmers For Justice in 1995, after some of its members tried to market their own wheat in the United States in contravention of Canadian law. He argued that these farmers were conducting private transactions "at the expense of all other farmers", and said that costs would be higher and returns lower if the Wheat Board were forced out of existence. [3]
The Wheat Board was restructured in 1998, and Nicholson was elected as a director for the western Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan region. He defended the Wheat Board's monopoly status in a 2000 interview with the Winnipeg Free Press , arguing that single-desk marketing allowed farmers to look after their interests and avoid exploitation from grain merchants and railways. [4] He was re-elected in 2002, defeating former Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba cabinet minister Jim Downey after two rounds of voting. Downey had opposed the single-desk approach. [5]
The Winnipeg Free Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, international, sports, business, and entertainment news. Various consumer-oriented features such as homes and automobiles appear on a weekly basis. The newspaper's main competition is the Winnipeg Sun, a print daily tabloid.
James Erwin Downey is a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1977 to 1999, and served as a cabinet minister in the Progressive Conservative governments of Sterling Lyon and Gary Filmon.
Nicholson has recently criticized Conservative Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl's efforts to reduce the Wheat Board's monopoly status. [6] He was re-elected to a third term as director in 2006.
The Conservative Party of Canada, colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 from the multiple right-wing parties which had existed in Canada for over a century, historically grouped into two camps, "Red Tories" and "Blue Tories". The party sits at the centre-right to the right-wing of the Canadian political spectrum, with the Liberal Party of Canada positioned to the center-left. Like their federal Liberal rivals, the party is defined as a "big tent", welcoming a broad variety of members. The party's leader is Andrew Scheer, who serves as Leader of the Official Opposition.
The Minister of Agriculture is a Minister of the Crown in the Cabinet of Canada, who is responsible for overseeing several organizations including Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canadian Dairy Commission, Farm Credit Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, National Farm Products Council and the Canadian Grain Commission. The current Minister of Agriculture is Marie-Claude Bibeau.
Charles "Chuck" Strahl, is a Canadian businessman and politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2011. First elected for the Reform Party, he was the leader of the Democratic Representative Caucus that left the Canadian Alliance in opposition to Stockwell Day's leadership. When the Conservatives won power in 2006, he became a prominent cabinet minister and served as Minister of Agriculture, Indian and Northern Affairs, and Transportation.
