There were no victory celebrations or wakes for Canadian Wheat Board candidates Dec. 13.
That’s the day the results of the director elections were to be announced by co-ordinator Meyers Norris Penny.
Instead there was uncertainty, frustration and confusion, in the wake of a legal challenge against the election launched by District 8 candidate Art Mainil.
The statement of claim, filed in Federal Court in Estevan, Sask., Dec. 8, has delayed the vote tabulation for at least two weeks.
It has also triggered debate about how the controversy may affect the credibility of the new board of directors that does eventually take office, as well as the motives behind the legal challenge.
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Documents filed by Mainil allege that a number of election rules and regulations were violated during the campaign and asks the court to order a new election.
The main thrust of the claim is the discovery in late November that 792 names were left off the voters list provided to MNP by the wheat board in mid-October. Ballots were hurriedly sent out to those who were missed, but as a result, a number of formal deadlines for distributing ballots were missed.
In an interview, Mainil likened the CWB vote to a “Third World, banana republic election,” arguing the numerous problems outlined in his claim can’t simply be brushed aside.
“There is only one way to straighten this mess out and that’s to have a new election run under Elections Canada rules,” said Mainil, an outspoken critic of the board who has criticized the election process throughout the campaign.
Mainil’s claim included supporting affidavits from several farmers and District 4 candidate Tom Jackson, who also made concerns about the election process a centerpiece of his campaign.
Faced with the prospect of going ahead with the count as scheduled and announcing a result that could be declared invalid by the courts, MNP and the wheat board decided to postpone the tabulation.
“We don’t think there is any merit in this case whatsoever, but to retain objectivity and fairness we decided to wait to let the court decide,” said MNP election co-ordinator Peter Eckersley.
He hopes the case can be heard and resolved next week so the results can be announced before the end of December, when the new directors are scheduled to take office.
Whether that happens will depend on how quickly the court deals with the claim. Lawyers from all sides were to discuss the issue this week to possibly hold a hearing the week of Dec. 20.
“Hopefully we can get a quick judgment, although we’re not sure of the format or the details,” said Eckersley.
The term of office of CWB directors in the four districts holding elections expires Dec. 31. Eckersley said that even if no new directors are in place by that time, the board could continue to operate with its 11 other directors.
Mainil described the election as a dishonest joke and said the results will have no credibility with farmers.
“People have no faith in this,” he said, noting that only about one in three eligible voters bothered to cast a ballot.
MNP and wheat board officials deny that, saying they are confident the court will find that the election has been conducted properly.
While acknowledging there have been problems, Eckersley said the bottom line is that 45,000 farmers received ballots and, with few exceptions, anyone who wanted to vote had a chance to do so.
CWB spokesperson Louise Waldman said delay and legal review will actually strengthen the credibility of the election result.
“Instead of proceeding with the count when the process may have been in dispute, it will now be confirmed by an independent third party, a judge, as being fair and equitable.”
Mainil also charged that the mistakes in compiling the voters list were designed to favour candidates who support the board’s status as the single desk seller of wheat and barley, a position he opposes.
“That’s why we got involved,” he said. “To expose all this.”
However, other candidates rejected that, saying there were simply mistakes made that were corrected as quickly as possible.
“There’s no conspiracies here,” said Chuck Fossay, District 10 candidate. “The farmers I’ve talked to about this in the last couple of days haven’t expressed any concern about the credibility of the result.”
