The federal government says it plans to review the $8-billion sale of Canadian-based grain-handling firm Viterra to a European-based conglomerate.
The federal government says it plans to review the $8-billion sale of Canadian-based grain-handling firm Viterra to a European-based conglomerate.
Farmers should have known it was a scam when the board wasn’t broken up, just privatized. “Oh yes, you can now sell to anyone! But the market is now dominated by this private quasi-monopoly…”
I mean, they also should have known that competition wasn’t going to meaningfully increase the prices they were getting, since grain buyers are middle-men, but people in general have a hard time learning from outside contexts.
That part was definitely strange. When Ontario gave up its single desk the Ontario Wheat Board (now Grain Farmers of Ontario) stayed the course, just without the single desk requirement. The pool is still active if one chooses to join.
The CWB didn’t even need to be broken up. It could have continued as normal, except without the single desk requirement.