Ottawa critic at CWB sacked

Ottawa critic at CWB sacked
Sat Feb 2 2008

By Larry Kusch


A Canadian Wheat Board vice-president who was an outspoken critic of the Harper government's tactics in its dealings with the marketing agency was sacked Friday.

Deanna Allen, the board's vice-president of farmer relations and public affairs, had been a thorn in the side of the government as it attempted to end the wheat board's barley marketing monopoly.
Allen said in an interview late Friday that she was "dismissed without cause" by wheat board interim president Greg Arason.

"I was told that Greg had just come in from an in-camera session with the board and that he was to inform me that I was dismissed effective immediately," she said, adding that the news "came as a bit of a shock" and that she had had no inkling that her dismissal was imminent.

Allen would not speculate on the wheat board's motivations for firing her.


Pulling no punches
Deanna Allen's comments have sometimes made her a thorn in Ottawa's side:

"This is one of the most irresponsible things that I think we've had to deal with yet in this whole bizarre dispute that we've had with the minister"

-- reacting to statements by former CWB minister Chuck Strahl last May that barley farmers may default on barley delivery contracts with the prospect of an open market coming soon. May 18/07

"While we've been in the penalty box, they were running a $1.2-million campaign, which was on the single desk and which was casting doubts as to whether the single desk was an appropriate vehicle for marketing at all"

-- referring to a federal print and radio ad campaign last year on barley marketing that occurred during a government gag order on wheat board communications supporting its position. Nov. 28/07

"Is he gagging customers, too?"

-- reacting to charges by CWB Minister Chuck Strahl that the wheat board had acted irresponsibly by posting letters on its website from international grain customers expressing shock at the Harper government's plans for the board. Dec. 13/06

"We get a news release saying the minister is disappointed. Well, we are very disappointed that we had to find out about the composition of the task force by news release"

-- referring to a statement by former CWB Minister Chuck Strahl that he was disappointed the wheat board had not responded to his invitation to name a representative to a government task force on barley marketing. Sept. 19/06

Wheat board chairman Ken Ritter, a Saskatchewan grain farmer, and Arason declined requests for comment Friday.
Allen's dismissal came two days after Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz appointed Australian sugar marketer Ian White as the wheat board's new president and CEO. White's three-year term begins March 31.

The Harper government fired former CWB president and CEO Adrian Measner in December 2006 over his staunch public defence of the wheat board's monopoly on wheat and barley sales.

After Measner was dismissed and replaced on an interim basis by Arason, a Harper government appointee, it was often left to Allen to deliver a stinging rebuttal as the wheat board clashed with the government over barley marketing.

Allen said all her comments to the media reflected the wheat board's point of view. "I wasn't some rogue spokesperson for the company," she said.

On Friday, Measner, now an executive in the private grain trade, said Allen's dismissal would be a shock to the organization.

"I know she's incredibly good at her job. I worked with her for many years. And she certainly knows she worked for farmers and not for the government and was not afraid to speak up," the former CWB president said.

While Ottawa has the power under the Canadian Wheat Board Act to hire and fire the wheat board president, it cannot dismiss lower-level salaried staff. The salaries of all CWB employees come out of the pockets of Prairie grain growers.

A spokesman for the National Farmers Union said his organization would be "very disappointed" by Allen's dismissal.

"We think she's done a real good job under trying circumstances, very professional," said the NFU's Terry Pugh.
However, Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel, president of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, said Allen treated opponents of the wheat board's monopoly "in a condescending way."

"It was like she felt she knew better than I did what was best for my farm," Jolly-Nagel said.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca