One director of the Canadian Wheat Board is accusing a fellow director of violating the corporation’s code of ethics.
Rod Flaman, a director from Edenwold, Sask., said comments made by director Jim Chatenay of Red Deer during a March 6 public meeting in Weyburn, Sask., violate the code.
Chatenay said he did nothing wrong and appeared at the meeting as an individual farmer, not as a CWB director.
The meeting was called by Farmers for Justice to protest the CWB’s monopoly on exports of wheat and barley.
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At one point in the meeting Chatenay, a strong supporter of marketing choice, spoke favourably about a suggestion from the crowd that farmers protest by boycotting grain deliveries to the board, especially durum.
“The wheat board needs that to meet their commitments,” he said. “That might be another approach.”
Flaman said that “absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt” conflicts with a director’s responsibility to act in the best interest of the corporation.
“For him to even think that is contrary to his fiduciary duties,” Flaman said.
“To go out into a meeting of 150 or more agitated anti-wheat board people and to condone and encourage that is certainly a serious breach.”
The CWB’s code of ethics makes references to a director’s responsibility to the corporation, stating at one point: “Directors must clearly understand that their primary duty is to act in the best interests of the CWB.”
Flaman said he will send a letter outlining his complaint to CWB chair Ken Ritter and the board’s governance committee, as required by the code of ethics.
“I think this is a very, very serious matter,” he said.
Chatenay, a three-term director who won by acclamation in 2004, acted as chair of the Weyburn meeting, introducing speakers and commenting throughout on remarks and questions from the audience.
During the meeting he urged farmers to do whatever is necessary to end the board’s monopoly.
“Let’s get to work and get it done,” he told the crowd.
In an interview last week, Chatenay said he supports the “multi-pronged” approach put forward by farmers at the meeting, which could include a delivery boycott, civil disobedience and a complaint to an international human rights tribunal.
“I endorsed the whole package, absolutely,” he said.
Before the Weyburn meeting, Chatenay said he knew some other directors might not like his participation in the meeting and added he was aware of his corporate responsibilities.
After the meeting, he said he doesn’t think he did anything improper or violated the CWB’s code of ethics.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “I went as a concerned farmer and as a farmer I’m really mad about all this.”
Flaman was out of the country and could not attend the Weyburn meeting. He said he is basing the complaint on information gleaned from conversations with farmers and others who were there, along with news reports.
Flaman found himself involved in a controversy involving the code of ethics last year, after he won the federal Liberal nomination for Regina-Qu’Appelle.
Some open market farm groups and CWB directors, including Chatenay, thought he should resign from the board.
However, before putting his name forward as a candidate, Flaman reached an agreement with the board’s chair and its governance committee that he would take a leave of absence when the election is called and resign from the board if he wins. If he loses, he can resume his position as director.
Chatenay said he still believes Flaman is in a conflict of interest and called him hypocritical for criticizing Chatenay’s activities at the Weyburn meeting.
Speaking in code
The Canadian Wheat Board’s code of ethics makes at least five specific references indicating that directors must act in the best interests of the corporation at all times.
“Directors must clearly understand that their primary duty is to act in the best interests of the CWB,” it states at one point.
The 6,000 word code also states that directors:
- Owe “a duty of care” to the CWB.
* Must put their self-interest behind the interests of the board.
- Must ensure their activities do not undermine the reputation or integrity of the corporation.
- Must report in writing to the chair and the governance committee any activity by another director that they believe represents a real or apparent breach of the code of conduct.
Depending on the seriousness of the breach, the penalties can include reprimand, suspension, termination or legal action.
