WINNIPEG – Andy McMechan could lose his farm as a result of a new and stiffer sentence for shipping grain illegally to the United States.
The Lyleton, Man. farmer was convicted in March of shipping grain without a Canadian Wheat Board licence. He was originally fined $2,000 and ordered to pay more than $55,000 to the Canadian Wheat Board.
But last week, Madam Justice Freda Steel of Court of Queen’s Bench ruled on an appeal for a tougher sentence from crown attorney Clyde Bond. She said McMechan must pay fines of $20,000, plus the compensation to the wheat board.
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A jail term in lieu of the fines is not an option. If McMechan doesn’t pay, she said the federal government can go after his assets in civil court.
McMechan has been in jail since July 8 for not complying with a court order to give up a tractor he used to haul grain across the border. His court date for that charge is Aug. 16.
A spokesperson for Farmers for Justice said the judge portrayed McMechan as a big farmer who made money from hauling the grain.
“He’s not a criminal,” said Ken Dillen. “He did not profit from it, I know it for a fact.”
Dillen said McMechan does not have enough money to pay the fine and the compensation.
“The old saying is, you’re kicking horse turds down the road.”
Steel also increased fines for Bill Cairns, another farmer from southwestern Manitoba who was convicted of shipping grain illegally. His fines rose to $2,000 from $600.
“They don’t consider (Cairns) to be as dangerous as Andy or as likely to reoffend,” said Dillen.
He feels the government wants to destroy McMechan because he has been a vocal opponent of the wheat board’s monopoly on wheat and barley. Farmers for Justice has not yet determined if or what it will do to help McMechan, Dillen said. The protest group wants to wait until he’s out of jail to decide.
The crown attorney was not available for comment.
