A second Alberta grain grower has resigned as farmer-elected director for the Canadian Wheat Board.
Jeff Nielsen of Olds, Alta., announced Oct. 31 that he would be stepping down immediately as CWB director for District 2 in west-central Alberta.
Nielsen’s announcement comes days after another farmer-elected board member, Henry Vos, resigned from the board.
Vos stepped down on Oct 26, just hours before the wheat board announced its plans to sue the federal government over proposed legislative changes to the CWB Act.
Both Nielsen and Vos said they were concerned over an increasingly polarized environment at the CWB board table.
They were the only two farmer-elected directors who favoured marketing changes aimed at ending single desk grain marketing in Western Canada.
The other eight farmer-elected directors, including chair Allen Oberg, favour the status quo.
Nielsen was recently suspended by other board members for publicly criticizing a series of CWB producer information meetings that were held across the Prairies this summer.
The CWB’s board of directors now sits at 13, including eight farmer elected directors and five appointed directors.
Oberg said last week that the board has no immediate plans to hold by-elections replacing Vos and Nielsen.
