The 2004 Canadian Wheat Board election is officially history.
A potential legal challenge against the vote evaporated earlier this month when the Federal Court of Canada dismissed an application by Art Mainil, a farmer from Weyburn, Sask., to set aside the result of the election.
The court said it was dismissing the case because of excessive delay by Mainil in pursuing the matter.
The case dates back to December 2004, when Mainil asked the court to halt the vote count in light of alleged irregularities in the election process.
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An administrative foul-up had resulted in 792 farmers not receiving ballots until a week before the voting deadline, including 178 in the district in which Mainil was running.
The judge rejected Mainil’s request for an injunction to stop the count, but at the same time declined to dismiss his application for a judicial review of the election, leaving him the option of pursuing the case further.
Mainil took no action during the next seven months, and on Aug. 5, 2005, the court sent Mainil a notice giving him one week to show cause why his case against the CWB and election co-ordinator Meyers Norris Penny should not be dismissed for reasons of delay.
After receiving no response, the court dismissed the case on Sept. 28.
Mainil said in an interview last week the costs of pursuing the case were prohibitive, adding that he spent roughly $6,000 on the initial application for an injunction.
“You get into court, it’s very very costly,” he said.
He also said he made his point last December by highlighting the problems with the election system, noting that the judge agreed there were serious irregularities in the way the vote was conducted and leaving the door open for him to pursue a full judicial review.
Mainil thinks that was a major reason the federal government decided to launch a formal review of the CWB election process, which is now under way.
