SASKATOON (Staff) – Saskatchewan Wheat Pool is suing three Manitoba farmers who publicly questioned the solvency of the Regina-based grain company.
The pool had given the farmers two weeks to retract allegations contained in a March 15 press release. The farmers said documents they filed in Federal Court of Canada expose the “total financial collapse” of the co-operative and credit union movements in Saskatchewan, including Sask Pool.
Pool lawyer John Beke said last week the farmers had not responded to the pool’s ultimatum and continued to be “defiant” in statements to the media. “We have no alternative but to sue them,” he said in an interview March 31.
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A statement of claim was to be served in Court of Queen’s Bench in Regina this week, alleging the pool was libelled and slandered by Dave Sawatzky, Andy McMechan and Bill Cairns. A Saskatchewan media outlet might also be named in the suit, although that had not been decided last week.
Action considered by credit union
Saskatchewan’s Credit Union Central is also considering legal action against those three men, Western Report magazine and two individuals quoted in a Western Report story on the financial health of the province’s co-operatives. Chief executive officer Sid Bildfell said CUC will decide whether to proceed following this week’s annual meeting of delegates.
Beke said the pool could not let the statements go unchallenged, particularly since the company is preparing a public share offering which could be undermined by doubts about the pool’s financial viability.
Sawatzky said in an interview April 3, the farmers can’t retract the documents they have filed in Federal Court and the best way to let the issue be settled will be for the courts to deal with it.
“I don’t think we’re in a position to be able to (apologize or retract) because it’s already filed,” he said. “If Sask Pool has nothing to be concerned about, then we will find that out.”
The three farmers have also been at the forefront of a campaign to end the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly on export sales to the U.S. All three are facing charges of violating Canada Customs regulations in shipping grain across the border.
Sawatzky said the question of the pool’s financial health is important in his fight with the wheat board.
“The purpose of this has not been to slander or aggressively attack the Saskatchewan co-operative movement,” he said. Rather, the documents are intended to show that “because of the Canadian Wheat Board’s involvement with an entity (the pool) that doesn’t legally exist, the CWB exists for an illegal purpose.”
Pool president Leroy Larsen has called those accusations “false and utterly ridiculous,” and said the pool has revenues of more than $2 billion in 1994 and net earnings of more than $40 million:
“It has not obtained any money from Saskatchewan Crown Investments and has not been kept secretly alive by any government money.”
