OTTAWA – NDP Agriculture Critic Alex Atamanenko (BC-Southern Interior) says the Conservatives should repeal the gag order which threatens Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) employees with discipline for speaking out publicly against the government’s Bill C-39. This legislation would introduce sweeping changes to the Commission – an independent body that provides essential services to grain producers.
CGC employees have been saying that the government is putting the future of farmers and all Canadians who benefit from the grain trade at risk with a bill that ignores recommendations made by the all-party Standing Committee on Agriculture.
“It is very worrisome that anyone who tries to defend the rights of farmers in this country has to live in fear of being fired or muzzled or both,” declared Atamanenko. “Gag orders and firings are quite familiar as the modus operandi of government attacks against the Canadian Wheat Board – another institution whose only mandate is to work in the interests of producers.”
According to Atamanenko if employees have concerns about Bill C-39 or the future of the CGC, they should have the right to make their views heard.
The NDP Agriculture critic says that if the Bill is enacted in its present form it would strip much of the protection that farmers currently have. “As with the Canadian Wheat Board we have to be extremely careful when attempting to restructure the way farmers do business,” said Atamanenko. “Our foreign competitors and multinationals would like nothing better than to see complete deregulation of Canadian agriculture and power taken away from the producer.”