The Federal Court of Canada has agreed to expedite two court cases attempting to block the introduction of an open market for barley.
Challenges launched by Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board (FCWB) and the Canadian Wheat Board will be heard in Calgary July 25-27.
A court challenge usually takes four or five months to schedule but the farm groups filed motions saying it was imperative to have a ruling on the federal government’s actions before the Aug. 1 implementation of the open market.
They contend the government has no legal right to eliminate the CWB’s barley monopoly through regulatory changes and must instead pass legislation.
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FCWB spokesperson Stewart Wells said he is pleased with the court’s decision to hear the cases before the end of the crop year, although he acknowledged a decision may not come down until after the barley monopoly has been dissolved.
“At least it helps provide some clarity and certainty to the thing so that we won’t have it dragging out for four or five or six months after we’re into the new crop year.”
He said it is important to resolve the matter as soon as possible because the board is missing out on sales opportunities and there is considerable uncertainty surrounding millions of dollars of contracts with maltsters.
“The federal government is just inflicting as much damage as it can to the wheat board as it drags out this process.”
Wells said the federal government initially balked at the proposal to expedite the hearings but later supported the motion.
“Apparently they had a change of heart for reasons I don’t know.”
The CWB is also pleased with the decision to speed up the legal process.
“We’re hoping to establish legal certainty as soon as possible so we’re glad, we’re very pleased, that this is going to be heard before Aug. 1,” said spokesperson Heather Frayne.
The Federal Court decided that the FCWB and CWB challenges would be heard at the same time because of the similarities between the two cases.
“We have no problem with that,” Wells said.
