It’s not going to solve the financial crisis facing prairie
agriculture, but it will put a few bucks into a few farmers’ pockets.
A Calgary lawyer is trying to locate seven farmers who are still owed
money from the 1998 bankruptcy of Palliser Grain Co. Ltd.
John Blair of the Calgary law firm Borden, Ladner Gervais says if he
hasn’t found the missing farmers by Nov. 1, he’ll go back to court to
find another way to dispose of the money.
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federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
Blair said he has exhausted all the normal channels to locate the
missing seven using phone books, doing internet searches and working
with other farmers.
But when all that proved fruitless, he decided to make the names public.
“What more really can I do within reasonable limits?” he said. “I’m
not going to hire a detective to find a guy to give him fifty bucks.”
Altogether there is $4,212.63 in the pot, which originates from a
$320,000 bank account that Palliser held at Canada Trust at the time of
its bankruptcy.
A court-appointed receiver initially wanted to use the money to pay off
secured creditors such as the banks, but a group of six farmers hired
Blair to argue in court that the money should instead go to producers.
The court agreed, ruling the money should be distributed among 60
farmers who were owed money by Palliser. That’s now been done, with the
exception of the seven farmers still unaccounted for.
“These are the ones that just sort of got lost in the woodwork,” Blair
said.
The farmers, and the amounts waiting for them, are: Martin Moser
$3,237.45; Chuck Richardson, $619.40; Raymond Bergeron, $212.45; Randy
Gridley $53.11; Chester Marshall, $50.59; Gary Adam, $35.40; and Bob
Dueck, $4.23.
Blair said those farmers, or anyone who knows their whereabouts, should
get in touch with him by telephone at 403-231-5796 or by e-mail at
jblair@blgcanada.com.
