Federal government appeals court ruling that said it broke wheat board law
Friday, December 09, 2011 5:34 PM
The cornerstone of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) building is shown in Winnipeg, Wednesday, December 7, 2011. Directors of the Canadian Wheat Board are pleading with senators to stop Harper government legislation that would end the marketing agency's monopoly on Prairie grain sales. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Trevor Hagan
OTTAWA - Ottawa is appealing a Federal Court ruling that said the government's plan to reform the Canadian Wheat Board has broken the law.
The government also promised Friday that it will push ahead with the changes.
"Western farmers should continue to plan on having the same freedom as other farmers in Canada so that they too can market their grains in the best interests of their individual farms,” Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said in a written statement.
Federal Court says attempt to dismantle Canadian Wheat Board is illegal
The Federal Court of Canada issued a declaration this afternoon that the Minister of Agriculture, Gerry Ritz, acted in breach of his statutory obligation to hold a plebiscite of farmers before abolishing the Canadian Wheat Board's ‘single desk' mandate for marketing wheat and barley.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada, the Council of Canadians, Food Secure Canada, and the ETC Group (the “Interveners”) were given intervener standing in the case for the purpose of addressing important international trade and constitutional questions raised by the Minister's actions. The Court's decision repeats and adopts their submissions on these two key points.
“This is an important victory for democratic rights and the rule of law, and our arguments on trade and the rule of law played a key role in this decision,” says Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow. “In light of this decisive Federal Court ruling and the serious criticism it contains, the federal government should kill the bill immediately.”
Separating the wheat from the chaff in CWB debate
BY LES MACPHERSON, THE STARPHOENIX DECEMBER 10, 2011
Comparisons of the Harper government to a dictatorship would be funny if they didn't trivialize the horrors of dictatorships.
The Conservatives are getting it this time for dismantling the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly in violation of a court ruling. Except there is no ruling. Rather, the Federal Court issued a declaration, which, apparently, is quite a different thing from a ruling.
The presiding judge said the government is acting illegally but, also, that he is not going to do anything about it. He could have ordered a binding referendum by farmers on the Wheat Board's future, as the law strictly requires, but he very deliberately did not.
DECEMBER 2011 02:01 LETHBRIDGE HERALD OPINON
The federal government's plan to end the Canadian Wheat Board's marketing monopoly has become more muddied since this week's Federal Court ruling.
Judge Douglas Campbell ruled on Wednesday that Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz breached the Canadian Wheat Board Act by making changes without holding a plebiscite among producers. "I find that the act was intended to require the minister to consult and gain consent where an addition or subtraction of particular grains or types of grain from the marketing regime is contemplated, and also in respect of a change to the democratic structure of the CWB," Campbell said in his written decision.
Will this, then, derail the federal Conservatives' intention to dismantle the single-desk marketing system for wheat and barley? Not according to the government, which says it disagrees with the ruling and plans to appeal.
It's access to the open market. Nothing more and nothing less.
But, in so doing, the government is destroying an institution that has existed for more than 75 years, the last 68 years with the single desk. Those monopoly powers have been subject to parliamentary review every five years and since 1998 have been wielded by a 15-member board of directors, 10 of whom were elected by farmers.
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian wheat and barley farmers are now able to forward contract their crops to the buyer of their choice, including a viable and voluntary Canadian Wheat Board, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said in a statement.