Harper majority bad for Canada

Day 1 of Steve Harper’s “stable” majority government is accompanied by news that the PM has appointed three rejected Conservative candidates to the sheltered unelected refuge of graft and privilege – the Canadian Senate.

But today’s major policy announcement is the more ominous – the dismantling of the Canadian Wheat Board, an important institution founded in response to the collapse of Prairie agriculture and world prices in the Great Depression of the 1930s. For nearly eight decades, the board has provided a fair price to farmers while stabilizing the Prairie economy from the boom-bust cycle of the global capitalist commodity markets.

While pro-Conservative loyalists in some farm organizations will support this move, let’s hope that grassroots Prairie farmers send a clear message in defence of this successful co-operative enterprise.