The Harperite government's upcoming, rigged, barley plebiscite (All members of the Canadian Wheat Board should be allowed to vote - I never know when I might grow barley again.) is probably about as close as they will come to fulfilling their promise to destroy the single desk selling advantage of the CWB.
Chucky Strahl's many recent statements about not having plans for a wheat plebiscite because of the complexities; that the CWB is so involved in transportation, financial arrangements, and all aspects of Canada's wheat export business have all had the addendum ". . . at least not for this year." or some similar phrase.
At first blush those of us who steadfastly support the traditional CWB single desk selling concept feel threatened by that 'not for this year' tag. Like waiting for the other boot to drop!
But I don't think this is a threat. I believe 'at least not for this year' has a whole different use and meaning!
I believe a few things have come to light in those dark caverns of right wing, ideological, Harperite thought. Perhaps when they actually applied themselves to understand the CWB, in order to destroy it, they reluctantly developed a new appreciation for how this truly great, Canadian institution really works. I think they have found the world wide protest from our customers overwhelming. I think they realised just how important the CWB is to our Canadian economy.
But probably the most important meaning of 'at least not for this year' is to placate their own far right political base. Those knuckledraggers are, to say the least, pissed!
For instance, his promise to open up the Same Sex Marriage thing, that only the bible bound ideologues wanted in the first place, turned out to be such a sham that even the bible thumpers themselves could see it. And, anti-Quebec Alberta, as a whole, Harper's nexus to Canadian politics, was totally driven nuts by the Tories' declaration about a year ago that Quebec should be given a bigger role in the international arena and we should "eliminate the fiscal imbalance". Their chagrin is not eased by recent polls that show Harper's favour in La Belle Provance at about 13%; far below the Liberals' 31% and the Bloc's 44%.
So 'at least not for this year' really amounts to a faint hope clause for Cypress-Grasslands MP, Dave Anderson, the Con Johnsons, and other anti CWB types. Not even democratic election defeat, however, will stop those crazies in their quest to destroy, but they can't count on Harper being much help any more.
On top of all that - They just don't trust him!
