The federal government says it plans to review the $8-billion sale of Canadian-based grain-handling firm Viterra to a European-based conglomerate.

  • girlfreddy@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    17
    ·
    1 year ago

    sigh

    We’re gonna be reliving and regretting Harper’s sale of the Canadian Wheat Board for decades to come.

    • Kichae@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      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.

      • Rocket@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Farmers should have known it was a scam when the board wasn’t broken up, just privatized.

        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.

    • Jesse@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yep. All the arguments from the time of how the free market will be better, keep aging like milk, as moves like this progressively whittle down any semblance of competition.

      • Rocket@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        keep aging like milk

        Milk may not be the best analogy. Harper and gang was keen to keep its protectionist measures in place. If you recall, Bernier left the party because he wanted to do away with milk’s protectionist system and couldn’t get any support from within the CPC, thus creating his own party. Which too never gained any traction with regards to milk, which lead him to give up on that idea and go down some crazy paths to try and find something that would stick.

    • sik0fewl@kbin.socialOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yep. Funny how easy it is to sell things to the highest bidder. And how much time, effort and money it is build it from scratch.