As ballots from last-minute voters trickled in last week, the number of votes cast in the Canadian Wheat Board directors election climbed toward the 67,000 mark.
That represents about 43 percent of the156,866 eligible voters.
And according to CWB minister Ralph Goodale, that’s pretty good.
“By every reasonable comparison, this is actually a very strong turn-out,” said Goodale, suggesting that mail-in votes are often lucky to get a 25 percent response rate.
He said the response is impressive considering that many producers have been preoccupied with their own personal farm income crisis this fall.
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“The fact that they might have had their minds on other things is perfectly understandable, given the circumstances.”
While Goodale proclaimed himself satisfied with the turnout, not everyone agreed.
A disappointed National Farmers Union president Nettie Wiebe described the the turnout as dismal, saying it reflects the extraordinary demands on farmers’ time and energy.
“It’s relatively difficult in this complex environment to get farmers focused on what is a big and expensive process like this,” she said.
Larry Maguire, president of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, said he was surprised more ballots weren’t returned.
Others put a more positive spin on the numbers. They note that about 110,000 ballots were sent to actual producers, with the balance going to interested parties such as landlords and estates.
Assuming that most of the returned ballots came from producers, that boosts the turnout to a more respectable 55 percent of active farmers.
“I’m guessing most of those ballots are from active farmers, or very close interested parties, like someone leasing land to a family member,” said Keystone Agricultural Producers president Don Dewar. “I think the turnout is reasonable. I don’t think it’s any indication that something wasn’t working.”
Rod Scarlett, executive director of Wild Rose Agricultural Producers, put the voter response in an even brighter light, saying that only 75,000 or 80,000 producers are really “involved in the process” on an ongoing basis.
“So when you’re getting 60,000 of those voting, I believe you’re getting a really good representation of what’s out there,” he said.
The last two elections for the CWB producer advisory committee had turnouts of 35 and 39 percent, although the voters list was limited to actual producers.
The barley marketing plebiscite in February 1997 generated a response rate of 75 percent. That voters list was restricted to about 80,000 barley producers.
Maguire said the 43 percent turnout shows that many farmers have decided the board is irrelevant, as they have diversified from wheat and barley into non-board crops and livestock.
“It shows a greater need … for changes that reflect more of what prairie farmers are asking for,” he said, including removing barley from the board and providing more pricing options for wheat.
But others said it’s folly to draw conclusions about the motives or attitudes of those who didn’t vote.
“Those that didn’t vote just didn’t vote,” said Scarlett. “I don’t think there’s an argument to be made either way.”
Dewar agreed, saying one could just as easily argue that non-voters are satisfied with the status quo as that they don’t like the wheat board system.
Observers say a number of factors conspired to make this a difficult election.
It was held at a busy time of year, there was a large number of candidates in some districts, there were long distances to travel to candidate meetings and the preferential voting system was new and confusing to some.
The farm income crunch may also have kept some farmers from paying as much attention to the election as they otherwise might have.
“They’re so busy worrying about making ends meet right now, and being managers, that this is almost beyond them,” said Dewar.
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool president Leroy Larsen said it was a new experience for everybody and while a higher turnout would have been nice, a response of more than 50 percent is not a great concern.
“It may be disappointing, but we don’t get 100 percent turnouts in many other elections in this country either,” he said.
