Former CWB Directors Ask Canadian Supreme Court to Intervene

By CnAgri2012-07-30 19:42:05 Print

A new shot has been fired in the ongoing legal battle over the Canadian Wheat Board. Eight former farmer-elected directors of the board are asking the Supreme Court of Canada for leave to appeal a lower court ruling on the way the federal government stripped the agency of its marketing monopoly.

Supporters of the board's monopoly have been arguing the federal government didn't follow a law that required it to let grain farmers vote on the future of the wheat board, reports the Canadian Press.

"We believe that this case raises issues that are important to all Canadians and is worthy of careful consideration by the Supreme Court," Allen Oberg, a farmer and former chairman of the wheat board said Thursday.

A Federal Court judge had ruled in favour of grain farmers who wanted such a vote, but that ruling was later overturned in the government's favour by the Federal Court of Appeal.

Last December, the Conservatives used their majority in Parliament to scrap the board's monopoly on marketing Western wheat and barley starting Aug. 1.

The federal government announced last month that it will spend $349 million to help pay for the severance and pensions of wheat board employees as they leave the agency.

Oberg said if the high court hears the appeal and rules in their favour, they would still like to see an official vote on the issue.

Farmers rejected the idea of scrapping the board's marketing monopoly in an unofficial plebiscite last summer, but the results were not recognized by Ottawa.