THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2011
VOL. 89 | NO. 48 | $3.75
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AGRIBITION | WINNERS
Angus, Charolais reign supreme Agribition bull wins again | It is the third win for CSS Sir Gridmaker 2W BY BARBARA DUCKWORTH CALGARY BUREAU
Bernie Legaarden leads the supreme champion Charolais bull, owned by Garner Deobald and Cam Stewart, at the Canadian Western Agribition RBC Beef Supreme Challege on Nov. 26. The winners of the top bull and female each receive $10,000 and other prizes. | BARBARA DUCKWORTH PHOTO
REGINA— Declared fairest in the land is the kind of praise the team at Soo Line Cattle Co. likes to hear. Roger Hardy and his crew at Midale, Sask., were ecstatic when Soo Line Annie K 9165 was named supreme champion at the 2011 Canadian Western Agribition Nov. 26. access=subscriber section=news,livestock,none
SEE AGRIBITION CHAMPIONS, PAGE 2 »
Historic vote ends CWB single desk Swift Senate approval expected | Iron curtain lifted for prairie farmers, says Conservative MP BY BARRY WILSON OTTAWA BUREAU
After more than three decades of debate and rancour, MPs voted Nov. 28 to approve legislation that will end the Canadian Wheat Board single desk effective Aug. 1, 2012. As farmers sat in the visitors’ gallery overlooking the floor of the House of Commons, the vote divided between the Conservative majority and the combined opposition — 153-120.
For five minutes, Conservative MPs applauded as the vote was counted. When the vote result was announced at 6:55 p.m., scores of farmers in the gallery stood, waved their arms and then filed out quietly. Conservative MPs stood in a standing ovation. “This is a tremendous day,” agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said during Commons question period Nov. 28 in anticipation of the vote. “This is a movement forward. This
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is what we’ve been waiting for for decades. We will get the job done tonight.” Opposition MPs denounced it as a sellout to agribusiness and American grain traders. There was drama on the streets of Ottawa after Ritz and agriculture ministers from Alberta and Saskatchewan used a joint news conference to herald the impending vote as a great day for their farmers. Farmer protestors with pro-CWB
signs and loyalty to the board ran after the ministers as they walked away, shouting at them, booing and calling them liars. Bill C-18 now goes to the Senate, where final approval is expected within three weeks. Ritz told the morning news conference with Saskatchewan agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud and Alberta minister Evan Berger that govern-
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CANADIAN WHEAT BOARD | PARLIAMENT VOTES