OTTAWA, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- The Canadian Wheat Board monopoly is set to wind down next August after the Canadian Conservative government voted against it Monday night.
The board, the last remaining agricultural monopoly in the world, forces wheat, barley and other grain farmers to sell their crops through its marketing channels and has long been a political target of the Conservatives, the Globe and Mail reported.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's majority party pushed the bill through on third reading in Parliament Monday night by a 153-120 vote, the Globe said.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said the bill now goes to the Conservative-dominated Senate, which will begin sitting Friday in a bid to get royal assent before the Christmas break, the QMI agency reported.
The bill would allow 70,000 farmers to find their own markets after Aug. 1, 2012.
The board was established in 1935 as a voluntary organization, but in 1943, all grain farmers were required to participate to provide low-cost food to Britain at the height of World War II.
