They won’t be going down without a fight.
Last week, eight former farmer-elected directors of the Canadian Wheat Board announced they were launching legal action to prevent implementation of Bill C-18, the Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act, which passed third reading in the Senate and was given Royal Assent by the Governor General.
“This government has now put itself above the law by proceeding with this bill,” said former CWB chairman Allan Oberg, speaking at a press conference in Winnipeg last week. “Such a disregard for a court order is virtually unprecedented in Canada, and it is unconscionable for a government in a Parliamentary democracy to proceed with legislation in the face of a court order that has declared it illegal.”
For many farmers opposed to the Canadian Wheat Board’s (CWB) single desk marketing structure, the legal challenge is being viewed as just so much sour grapes. But for others who supported the organization and its fight to preserve itself in the face of legislation designed to eliminate its very raison d’être, this final court challenge is viewed as a last best chance for vindication.
“Our aim is to restore the right of farmers to vote on the changes to the CWB, so that farmers can decide themselves how their wheat and barley should be marketed. Farmers make up the CWB, they run it, and they should be the ones who decide what happens to it,” said Oberg.
The application, filed in the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench, is asking the court to rule Bill C-18 invalid because it “violates the rule of law.” For now, all indications are showing it won’t be an expedited process, and in the interim, marketing freedom will now be the law of the land.
“Farmers’ right to vote is of crucial importance. As farmers, we were empowered by the 1998 legal amendments, that passed us control of the CWB as our marketing organization. As farmers, it is our grain, it is our livelihood and it’s our marketing organization,” said Oberg.
And the CWB’s former directors won’t be fighting this battle as elected representatives of the grain marketer. In fact, as of Friday, they’re out of a job. Upon Royal Assent, a provision included in Bill C-18 immediately removed the former eight directors, with the CWB now run by five federally-appointed directors, defaulting control of the organization into the hands of the federal government. The new law also required the CWB to immediately withdraw as a plaintiff in the court action, leaving the eight former farmer-directors to fight the legislation on their own.
“On behalf of farmers, we’ve been working very hard, right up until the eleventh hour, to have their views prevail and their interests protected,” said Oberg. “This government is trying to destroy the CWB’s single desk in a single fell swoop, without proper analysis, debate or discussion. It’s been rushed through Parliament for no reason beyond politics and ideology. I could accept this, despite my own personal convictions, if it were farmers themselves who decided to end the single desk. But this is not the case. Farmers have approved none of this. They do not want this to occur, and it must be stopped.”
Late Friday, a Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench judge, Justice Shane Perlmutter, denied a motion by the eight former CWB directors that would have temporarily prevented the Conservative government from implementing the new law. Detailed arguments on an injunction are still scheduled to be heard in Winnipeg on Jan. 17-18. It is expected it could take up to a year for the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench to hear a motion by the former CWB directors to declare C-18 invalid.
Earlier this month, the Federal Court of Canada ruled Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz contravened the law when he caused Bill C-18 to be introduced without first conducting a farmer vote as required by 1998 amendments to the Canadian Wheat Board Act, which were designed to put Prairie farmers in control of the grain marketing organization. Despite this ruling, the government proceeded with the legislation, which recently received Royal Assent.
“I’m of the view that government needs to obey the law. They certainly have the power to change the law, but they can’t ignore the law — and that’s just what that federal court ruling said, is that the minister’s actions were an affront to the rule of law and democracy, and this whole legal issue might have been avoided had this government taken the time to consult with producers in Western Canada as to the future of their marketing organization,” said Oberg.
Bill C-18 enables the government to dismantle the single desk marketing monopoly of the CWB by Aug. 1, 2012. As of last week, Western Canadian wheat and barley farmers now have the freedom to forward contract for the delivery of wheat and barley to the CWB or the buyer of their choice for delivery after Aug. 1, 2012. The CWB is now scheduled to become a voluntary marketing option for farmers, supported by the federal government, as it transitions to a privately-owned entity.
Additional information on the future transition of the CWB can be found at www.agr.gc.ca/freedom