A veteran Canadian Wheat Board director has come under criticism for revealing the results of a vote by CWB directors.Bill Toews of Kane, Man., who has represented district 10 since 2004, told the Winnipeg Free Press the board passed by a one-vote margin a resolution supporting federal legislation changing eligibility rules for voters in CWB director elections.That translates into an eight to seven vote by the 15 directors, meaning one farmer-director elected on a pro-single desk platform voted in favour of the resolution.Toews also told the newspaper he and the other directors who voted no have written to opposition MPs urging them to reject the federal bill.That prompted the Western Barley Growers Association to issue a statement criticizing Toews for speaking out against a board decision and revealing the vote result.The association said Toews and his fellow directors who wrote to MPS are “undermining” the interests of the CWB and contravening standard governance requirements of a director.WBGA president Brian Otto said corporate directors should publicly support any decision made at the board table.“When we as farmers elect directors to the board of the CWB, we expect mature and responsible actions,” he said. “Toews and these other dissenting directors have failed all those that voted for them.”Reached at his farm last week, Toews declined to comment on the board’s vote result, but wasn’t surprised by the outcome.“I don’t want to get this any more convoluted than it already is,” he said.“It will be up to the board of directors to determine whether or not I was out of line.”CWB chair Larry Hill said if the board decided to pursue this further, it would do so through the governance committee at the request of a director.Toews was more than ready to repeat his criticism of the federal legislation, which will limit the CWB voters list to producers who grow at least 40 tonnes of grain in the year of the election or either of the two previous years.He said it suggests that small producers are second class citizens.Toews said he also thinks the federal government should consult with farmers and industry about making wide ranging changes to the election regulations, as recommended in an industry report in 2005.“There was an opportunity here to deal with a lot of election issues as a package, not just pick one out piecemeal like this,” he said.
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