What if they gave an election and no one ran?
Things haven’t reached that point, but as the Canadian Wheat Board director election officially got underway last week, no one had yet stepped into the ring to challenge the five incumbents seeking re-election.
It’s still early days – the nomination period only opened Sept. 5 – but in previous elections a number of candidates had indicated by this time in the process that they intended to run.
For example, two years ago, five challengers had announced plans to run by the time nominations opened, while four years ago nine had declared their intentions by the first week of September.
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So far, all five incumbents running in the five odd-numbered electoral districts have said they plan to run again, although as of last week none of them had made a formal announcement or filed nomination papers.
The five incumbents are Art Macklin in District 1, Larry Hill in District 3, Allen Oberg in District 5, Dwayne Anderson in District 7 and Bill Nicholson in District 9.
Election co-ordinator Peter Eckersley of Meyers Norris Penny said not only had there been no nominations as of last week, but he hadn’t received any preliminary inquiries from potential candidates seeking information about the nomination process.
However, he added he isn’t overly concerned at the lack of nominations, noting farmers have been busy with harvest and the election has received little public attention.
The nomination period is open until Oct. 23, he added, so there’s time for candidates to come forward.
“I would certainly say we need to have candidates,” he said. “It’s the proper thing for the democratic process to have an election, not select people by acclamation.”
Anyone interested in the future of the CWB should consider becoming a candidate, he said.
The only director to be acclaimed since elections began in 1998 was Jim Chatenay in District 2 in 2004.
Eckersley said with the attention being given to the future of the wheat board’s single desk by the federal government, one might expect lots of interest among potential candidates.
A preliminary voters list is available for viewing at Meyers Norris Penny offices in the electoral districts. Information about the list can also be obtained by calling the election information line at 800-446-0890.
Farmers will soon be mailed forms to confirm the information on the list, which can be changed until Oct. 13.
Ballots will be sent out Oct. 30 to about 49,500 voters in the five districts. That’s down from 62,642 fours ago, reflecting changing demographics in the grain industry.
The election rules will be the same as in the past. An election review panel created by the previous Liberal government recommended a number of changes, but the new Conservative government didn’t implement any of them for this election.
However, Eckersley said the CWB has instituted new procedures to ensure that voters list problems that marred the last election won’t occur again. That included voters being assigned to the wrong district and names being inadvertently left off the list.
“I know the wheat board has done extensive work to ensure there is no repeat,” Eckersley said.
One other change this year is that MNP won’t be sponsoring candidate forums. It did so for the first time in the 2004 election, but attendance was “abysmal,” said Eckersley, with as few as seven people showing up.
