The federal government is ready to impose tighter rules on third
parties in this fall’s Canadian Wheat Board election.
While Ottawa hasn’t adopted all of the changes recommended by the CWB’s
board of directors, the board says the changes will help ensure a fair
process.
“We can live with these changes,” said board chair Ken Ritter. “Our
whole intent all along has been to have free and fair elections and
these pretty well cover our ability to do that.”
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The government has proposed three amendments to the election
regulations:
- The definition of a third party has been changed to include groups
and coalitions, not just
individuals.
- All election advertising must display the name of the sponsoring
individual or group.
- Third party interveners will be required to file a report on their
advertising expenses with the election co-ordinator at the end of the
election period, specifying who contributed money to the third party.
In an interview July 19, Ritter said other changes recommended by the
board ran into problems because of legal issues surrounding freedom of
speech guarantees during all elections.
Ritter said the board wants to ensure the director elections are
contests among individual farmers seeking to win the support of other
farmers, and aren’t taken over by corporate or other interests.
“There were signs last time of turning the election process into a
political party kind of thing, not farmer versus farmer.”
The last CWB election in 2000 was marked by concerns over the actions
of a group called CARE, which collected money from farmers and one
corporation and distributed it to candidates who opposed the board’s
monopoly.
CARE ignored requests by the election co-ordinator to register as a
third party, which would have made it subject to election advertising
spending limits of $10,000 for all electoral districts combined.
CARE spokesperson Glenn Goertzen could not be reached for comment on
the new rules.
The proposed new regulations make it clear that any person who is not a
candidate, and any group, has to register with the election
co-ordinator as a third party intervener before incurring election
expenses.
Deborah Harri, the wheat board official who oversees the election
process, said time is of the essence in getting the changes through in
time for the election, which will probably get under way officially
immediately after the Labour Day weekend with a call for nominations.
