tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6227077066630812976.post539394067975939726..comments2022-04-27T20:30:41.890-05:00Comments on The CWB Monitor: Manitoba Government steps in itJohn De Papehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179267278828166305noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6227077066630812976.post-15524320737686930752011-06-15T01:08:41.213-05:002011-06-15T01:08:41.213-05:00My grandfather, Charles Swartz (along with his bro...My grandfather, Charles Swartz (along with his brother Bill) started Northern Sales after World War 2. They were soon joined by my father Clifford and over the years, as an accredited export agent for the CWB, became the largest privately held wholly Canadian grain company. Anyone familiar with the history of the grain business in Winnipeg has heard of the Northern Sales and know that much of Canada's wheat and barley export business began and was developed, not by the CWB, but by our family and other private grain firms.<br /><br />Over the years, much of Canada's export grain business became the sole domain of the CWB who, departing from their original mandate, squeezed out, stole or simply stopped supporting the very companies and individuals who single-handedly developed export markets for Canada's grain. Instead of working with those who made Canada a leader, the CWB just swept them aside by insisting on direct relationships with other countries; when foreign markets came to accredited agencies like Northern Sales for a price and supply of Canadian wheat, we were told, again and again, market after market, that the CWB would no longer make wheat available for the trade. Instead, they pursued direct contact with the same people we introduced them to in previous pieces of business.<br /><br />By the time I joined Northern Sales in 1981, there were very few export markets grain traders in Winnipeg could actually sell to. Whatever markets did exist, the buying process was usually by means of a tender and/or the political/financial situations associated with those markets required tremendous risk and expense on the part of the private trade. All the while knowing that if you succeeded, the CWB was likely going to try and take the market away from your firm.<br /><br />The classic example of this - and how low senior members and Commissioners of the CWB could stoop - is Syria. Our firm was approached in the mid 1970s by the Syrian government about the long term supply of Canadian wheat. We approached the Board and, through hard work and long negotiations, signed a long term sales contract with the Syrian government. This was the first time they had ever purchased Canadian wheat. We shipped several hundred thousand tonnes to them over a two to three year period.<br /><br />When the contract was drawing to a close, we resumed negotiations with Syria and the CWB about price, supply and delivery schedules, but learned that the Board had been in direct contact and had visited with representatives of the Syrian government about supplying them wheat directly. Syria did not buy any Canadian wheat that year, or the next.<br /><br />A delegation from Syria was visiting Winnipeg during this time and the CWB held a reception for them at their offices. No doubt this was a means to display their prominence as western Canada’s wheat marketing board and that Syria should really be dealing with them, not small fry like Northern Sales.<br /><br />Whether it was by obligation, or the insistence of the Syrians, the CWB invited members of the trade, including Northern Sales to the reception. During the affair, my grandfather, my father and I were having a friendly discussion with one of the Syrian representatives (who also happened to be one of the people we negotiated our original contract with) when we were approached and interrupted by one of the CWB Commissioners. Paying our family no attention, he looked directly at the Syrian official and said, “I know you want to buy Canadian wheat, but I don’t understand why you’d want to do business with a Jew.”<br /><br />It was at that moment I realized that the Canadian grain trade, as I had known it growing up, was over.<br /><br />Kerry Swartz<br />Victoria BCKerry Swartznoreply@blogger.com