Posted on August, 27, 2018 at 10:38 am
By Eric Schroeder
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA — The Union of Canadian Transportation Employees (UCTE), a group that represents the workers at the port, Transport Canada and the Marine Tank Farm in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, on Aug. 23 called on the Canadian government to buy back the Canadian Wheat Board from G3 Canada Ltd.
G3 Canada Ltd. is led by the Saudi Grains Organization (SAGO), and according to Dave Clark, president of the UCTE, the latest actions by Saudi Arabia have raised concerns among the UCTE’s members. Saudi Arabia’s state wheat buying agency earlier this month said it would no longer buy Canadian wheat and barley.
“Their actions to stop buying Canadian wheat and barley should be the final nail in the coffin,” Clark said. “Having a foreign interest managing such an important asset is wrong and should be immediately reversed.”
G3 Canada Ltd. acquired the Canadian Wheat Board in 2015.
This is not the first time a group has called for changes in Canada. Earlier this year a group of producers from parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the Canadian Wheat Board Alliance (CWBA), called for the federal government to bring back the board and its single desk for selling wheat and barley.
The CWBA said the former government made a mistake when it privatized the board and sold it to the G3 Global Grain Group.
Clark said the UCTE agrees.
“We used to have a fast, efficient and effective means of getting Canadian grain to market using the rail line and ports like Churchill and Thunder Bay,” Clark said. “Now we have foreign interests threatening our suppliers and Canadian jobs.”
The UCTE said it plans to write to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to ask for “immediate action” to protect Canadian producers by restoring the Canadian Wheat Board to Canadian farmers.
Source: WORLD-GRAIN.COM