WINNIPEG (Staff) – As reporters crowded around Dave Sawatzky to hear how he and two other Manitoba farmers plan to take on the Canadian Wheat Board, a small group of board employees watched from inside the building with bemused expressions.
Bob Roehle of the board even stepped outside to listen to Sawatzky.
Roehle said he read the press release, “and I don’t understand it. It’s not clear to me what’s at issue, what the point is. So I’m waiting to read the papers next week to find out what, in fact, it’s all about.”
Read Also
Manitoba searches for Plan B on canola oil exports
A new report explores Manitoba’s current canola oil trade and possible alternative markets to the U.S.
The farmers filed applications and affidavits in Federal Court of Canada that allege the wheat board is part of a coverup of the “collapse” of the Saskatchewan co-operative movement.
Two organizations named in the documents were not amused at the allegations.
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool has given the farmers until March 30 to retract and apologize for the statements made in a press release they circulated on March 15.
John Beke, lawyer for the pool, said the corporation will sue the farmers if they don’t retract the statements, which he said are “absolutely false.
“We don’t know what they’re up to or why they’re doing this,” Beke said. He said the press releases have damaged the company’s reputation, adding that other farmers have been calling the pool to ask if it is bankrupt.
The pool is the largest corporation in Saskatchewan and had total revenues of more than $2 billion in 1994.
Credit Union Central of Saskatchewan the umbrella organization of the province’s credit unions, is also calling for public retractions from Sawatzky, McMechan and Cairns. A press release signed with their names alleges the Saskatchewan government is covering up “the total collapse of the Saskatchewan Co-operative movement,” including “all provincial credit unions,” with money from the Crown Investments Corporation.
CUC is also asking for retractions from Western Report magazine for a cover story it published, entitled Are Saskatchewan credit unions in receivership?
It also wants retractions from two people quoted in the magazine story.
CUC has given the five men and Western Report until March 31 to retract. Chief executive officer Sid Bildfell said the organization will begin legal action if a “satisfactory response” is not received by then.
Wendy Kelly, a spokesperson for Saskatchewan Dairy Producers Co-operative, said the co-operative has been operating in the same way since it started more than 100 years ago, and that allegations the farmers made are “simply not true.”
Sawatzky said he’s not worried that he could be sued by the large organizations. He said he doesn’t think the companies have grounds for a lawsuit. And he said that he won’t retract the statements because he believes his information will stand up in court.
