The Canadian Wheat Board is holding the first of seven public regional meetings about its future tonight in Regina, without the presence of the city's provincial and federal elected officials.

MLAs and MPs from across the prairies, including B.C.'s Peace region, were invited on Friday to "show they support the farmers’ right to have a say in the future of their marketing organization," according to a press release by the Canadian Wheat Board Alliance, a non-partisan organization that focuses on protecting farmers right to market through the CWB.

The Tyee reported in May that the Conservatives were poised to end “the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly over wheat sales in the country under a majority Conservative government.”

Bill Gehl, chair of the CWBA, said earlier today that he had not yet heard back from any of the invited MLAs or MPs.

According to local Regina MLA Laura Ross’s office, Ross will not be at tonight’s meeting and will instead be at a caucus meeting. The Conservative MP for Regina, Andrew Scheer will also not be in attendance, according to his office. Both were unavailable for comment.

Gehl said it’s important for local MPs and MLAs to be in attendance.

"It’s really important that they be able to get a sense of what farmers are thinking and really too so that they can gage the level of support that the Canadian Wheat Board actually has in the farming community," said Gehl. "This just affords them a good opportunity to talk to farmers and get a better sense of what’s happening."

The benefit of the informational meetings for farmers he said will be in gaining a better understanding of the implications the Conservative government’s plan to remove the CWB’s monopoly over Canadian wheat sales.

"Hopefully they can get a better sense of what the ramifications of the loss of [the CWB monopoly] is going to be to each one of their individual farms," he said. As to what the implications will be to the country’s economy as a whole, he said "we want to make sure the Wheat Board is maintained because five to seven billion dollars a year comes into the Canadian economy with the exports of wheat and barley."

Gehl is hoping the meeting turnout will be strong even though "it’s kind of hitting a busy time."

"Some in the southwest of Saskatchewan have already started harvesting, so that might have a bit of an effect on the turn out," he said, adding that they had about 300 to 400 chairs set up.

On May 18, 2011 Minister of Agriculture Gerry Ritz announced that the government plans to end the CWB’s monopoly of wheat and barley in August of 2012 and legislation to do so will likely be introduced this fall, according to Reuters.

"Farmers who oppose the Wheat Board have long urged the government to end the world's last major agricultural monopoly, saying they want the freedom to find the best possible prices. Other farmers who support the CWB say the clout of the its single marketing desk brings them the best, most reliable returns," according to the same Reuters article.

According to a previous article by The Tyee, “Ritz also said that he would not hold a vote by farmers to decide if the Wheat Board should keep its monopoly, but farmers would be consulted.”

The CWB is currently holding its own plebiscite to determine where wheat and barley producers stand on the issue. All ballots must be postmarked August 24 to be eligible. Ballots will be counted on September 8 and 9.

The next regional meeting to discuss the future of the CWB will be in Saskatoon on August 9. For a complete list of meeting dates and locations click here.

Ainslie Cruickshank is completing a practicum at The Tyee