SASKATOON – If all goes according to plan, Saskatchewan Wheat Pool members will have a chance to sell or buy shares in the company before seeding.
“That’s the objective,” said pool president Leroy Larsen. “I said there will be no in-house trading during seeding this spring.”
Assuming the bill to amend the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Act receives swift approval in the provincial legislature, the company will send a prospectus to pool members around the middle of March. It will contain detailed information about the share offering, including the value of the company and the price of individual shares.
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The pool will then begin the so-called “in-house trading” period, during which time only members can sell or buy their newly converted Class B shares. The in-house trading will last four weeks. Some time after that, pool shares will be listed for sale on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
“I think in light of the discussion that has taken place, probably there will be some individuals that will want to speak about the proposed legislation,” said MLA Grant Whitmore (NDP-Biggar).
Opponents of the pool’s share plan have been lobbying MLAs to block the bill. Eighteen members of the Co-operating Friends of the Pool met with members of the NDP agriculture committee and the ministers of agriculture and environment in late January to plead their case.
John Burton, a Fort Qu’Appelle farmer and member of the group, said the main topic of discussion was his group’s contention that the pool should be forced to hold a membership vote on the share issue.
But MLA Eric Upshall (NDP-Humboldt) said it’s not up to the legislature to pass judgment on the pool’s democratic process.
“If some people perceive there to be a democratic problem in the pool, then that has to be solved within the pool,” he said.
Many of the rural MLAs who will be voting on the pool bill are also pool members, which has raised questions about whether they are in a conflict of interest.
Burton said the rule that prohibits members from voting on questions in which they have a direct financial interest clearly applies to the 20 or so pool members who sit in the legislature.
But Whitmore said he was told by the provincial conflict of interest commissioner last week that there is no conflict in this case because the bill affects such a large group of people (as many as 60,000 pool members). He was reluctant to comment further until he had received a formal written ruling from commissioner Derril McLeod this week.
