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Marvelous Marvin |
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| Brendaren Farms - Saturday, February 14, 2004 - by: Edwin Wallace | ||||||
A recent Saskatchewan Wheat Pool press release (pdf) announced the retirement of president Marvin Wiens.(pdf) |
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There is some speculation about his future around these parts since this is Wiens own back yard. Somebody suggested that he was quitting to get into politics. Another said, tongue in cheek, he would get such a big pension that he could afford to go farming again! The coffee row chat didn't define the political party that would want him and could only speculate at the sum of his termination pay out and pension level. |
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Alright, that's enough! |
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What should be of more concern is the headline and the text of the press release. "President Looks Back on Saskatchewan Wheat Pool's Success". |
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That really qualifies as an attention getter! |
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I have long held that Canada's worst business deal in the last century was what the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool calls "The transition to a publicly traded company (1996)". That "Transition" cost the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool thousands of members. Our own Wheat Pool committee, here at Success, Saskatchewan, resigned en mass in protest against the destruction of our cooperative. Farmer loyalty to the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, once something you could take to the bank, evaporated. |
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But fault for this 20th century debacle didn't lie only with then president, Leroy Larson, Wiens and other executive members. Every one of the members of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly, save one NDP member, voted to change the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Act, to allow for that fateful transition. More recent provisions were unanimously made by the Legislature. Wiens' retirement press release says, "the Pool’s corporate (Emphasis is mine for what I think is good reason - read on.)governance underwent significant change"! Well, it sure did. Now an individual or group, or, corporate shareholder can own a virtual controlling number of shares. This was originally set (In 1996) at 10%. |
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But really, who cares if it is now possible for the Cargils or who ever, to take over the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. Most of my fellow farmers think CEO Schmidt's over riding strategy is to ruin the Pool and make it ripe picking for his palls in the grain trade anyway. |
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The Editor/Publisher of a Manitoba paper, Farmers Independent Weekly, John Morriss, in a very fine tribute to his father, Bill Morriss, in their Sept 25/03 issue, talked ". . . of those who viewed co-operation as an outmoded principle . . .". |
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Wiens is quoted as saying, |
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"We’ve grown and changed and built an organization better suited to meet the needs of today's farmers. I am extremely proud of all that this co-operative has accomplished . . ." |
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That whole quote is a lie, but the part that really gripes is "this cooperative"! And that brings me to what we really do care about. It is the insult; the big lie. Ever since the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool became a corporate entity the movers and shakers have relentlessly called it what it is not. |
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The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, especially during the last decade or so, has been the very embodiment of those who view co-operation as an outmoded principle. |
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I'm Edwin Wallace |
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My own speculation turned to the reason for him leaving that plum position
with the untold salary. For instance, could it be that he no longer fit the corporate
image? The last couple of appearances on TV, showed Marvelous Marv had bulked
up to what appeared to be about 160% of his size in 2000! Sitting along side him,
razor thin and looking keenly predatory, as usual, was the Pool's CEO, Mayo
Schmidt. It seemed to me, that the albeit serious looking but fat president,
no longer defined the sleek corporate image.