Saskatchewan Wheat Pool’s delegate structure will expand both east and west in April 2001, but the number of board members will drop.
The board of directors agreed last week to move into Alberta and Manitoba by redrawing the pool’s district map and electing delegates from the other two provinces, now that grain handling facilities there are up and running. When that map is redrawn, however, the number of districts will drop from 16 to 12, creating a smaller board of directors.
President Leroy Larsen said he doesn’t know what the new western Canadian map will look like but he expects some districts to include parts of two provinces. The pool has had 16 Saskatchewan districts since its inception in 1924.
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Larsen said the pool will seek impartial assistance in drawing the map, but it does have some guidelines. For example, the co-operative wants to elect nine delegates in each district.
“We don’t necessarily want to cut back on the number of delegates,” he said. “We currently are at around 120 and there are some vacancies. With 12 districts, if it was nine (elected), we’d have 108 delegates.”
An expected jump in membership in the two new areas would create the need for more representation, he said, which would keep delegate numbers up.
Larsen said a smaller board could be enlarged again if the membership in Alberta and Manitoba warrants it. Delegates in even-numbered districts will continue to be elected in even-numbered years, and odd-numbered districts will hold elections in odd-numbered years.
