Alex Graham faced the prospect of being forced from office by a small group of local farmers when he resigned as president of
Alberta Wheat Pool last month.
Delegates in his Peace River electoral district had initiated formal recall proceedings under the pool’s bylaws, and were preparing to vote at a special recall meeting following a regularly scheduled district meeting in Grande Prairie July 17.
Delegates involved say the vote would have easily received the support of a majority of the eight local delegates. If that had happened, Graham would have immediately lost his position as director for District 9 and as president.
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However the recall meeting and vote were never held because Graham submitted his resignation to Alberta Pool’s board of directors. It was made public July 17.
In that announcement, the reason cited for the resignation was Graham’s desire to pursue other interests and spend more time with his family.
Reluctant to talk
The recall effort came to light after a series of interviews with present and former Alberta Pool officials, including several delegates, all of whom were reluctant to discuss the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“It’s a pretty sensitive issue,” said one source.
However, all described the same version of events leading up to the resignation, which shocked grain industry observers, coming just weeks before delegates of Alberta Pool and Manitoba Pool Elevators were to vote on a merger of their two companies.
The company’s senior corporate officials refused to confirm or deny that a recall procedure had been initiated.
“I won’t confirm that because I don’t think that would be responsible,” said pool vice-president John Pearson. “But I will say that all people that are elected democratically … are at the will of the people that elect them.”
Reached at his Calgary home last week, Graham wouldn’t comment.
“I think you need to talk to the delegates of District 9 and leave me alone,” he said. A clearly subdued Graham declined requests to tell his side of the story.
“I don’t understand what was going on, so I have nothing to say about it.”
Sources said the recall effort wasn’t prompted by any single event, but represented the culmination of growing unhappiness by local delegates with Graham’s dealings with issues of local concern and with what one delegate described as “internal issues.” They declined to be more specific.
They said they had no problem with Graham’s performance in his role as president of Alberta Pool, praising his work in helping bring about the merger of the two pools and paying tribute to his leadership abilities.
“He’s one of the most knowledgeable people in the grain industry in Western Canada,” said one local delegate who supported a recall. “He has a lot to offer the agriculture industry … and as such we really do wish him the best in finding other employment.”
As one source close to the situation put it, “it was his performance as director that was the problem, not president.”
For some, the final straw was public comments made by Graham in early June in which he enthusiastically predicted the merger would happen. That upset some delegates, who felt the president was usurping their authority to make the final decision. Delegates decided to take action before the merger occurred so the new company would not have to deal with the situation.
“We decided to deal with it as Alberta Wheat Pool, rather than tarnish Agricore with controversy,” said one of those involved in the recall effort, adding the decision was not taken lightly. “We did what we felt was in the best interest of the company.”
Now or never
Graham was slated to stand for re-election in November, but there was concern that those elections could be cancelled under the restructuring associated with the merger.
One local delegate who supported Graham was reluctant to talk.
“I was pretty upset with what went on, but I won’t comment on that part of it,” said Ralph Moskalyk, of Fairview, Alta.
Pearson said that, without commenting specifically on Graham’s situation, it is a challenge for senior elected officials to take care of business both at head office and back home.
“It is difficult at times and with all the stress and strains that a person gets involved with away from your communities, it’s easy maybe to slip over the smaller details, which are sometimes very important,” he said. “You can deal with the larger things, but dealing with some of the smaller issues can sometimes build in people’s minds.”
The pool’s corporate officials refused to provide detailed information about the bylaws governing recalls, describing them as an internal affair.
