SASKATOON – The delegate who has spearheaded calls for a membership vote on the proposed restructuring of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool hasn’t given up the fight.
Pool leaders have repeatedly said there will be no vote. They say the pool’s democratic structure requires the delegates make the decision about the future structure of the company.
Even if a vote could be held, they say, there are other reasons not to go that route, including the logistics and cost of holding a vote and the complexity of the proposal.
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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
As pool president Leroy Larsen said at a recent membership meeting: “This is not a yes or no question. There are many issues that have to be considered and options understood.”
But none of that has deterred Stewart Wells of Swift Current. For the last two months, Wells has lobbied for a vote, writing letters to newspapers, talking to other delegates, confronting senior pool officials at public meetings and even consulting with lawyers.
The right thing to do
Last week Wells issued a press release saying a vote is legally possible and is also the right thing to do. But in an interview from his farm he admitted he’s not sure exactly what can be done to force a vote.
Wells has argued that the pool’s bylaws give the board of directors the right to put any matter before the members for a vote, and has a legal opinion from a Swift Current law firm that backs him up.
But the pool’s corporate lawyers at the Regina firm of Balfour Moss disagree.
They say section 13 (1) of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Act says only delegates, and not the board or the members, can amend bylaws. They say the bylaw quoted by Wells simply gives the board the right to have members vote by mail, rather than in person, on matters within the board’s powers.
Pool lawyers say delegates could amend the bylaws to provide for a plebiscite, by a two-thirds vote of the 142 delegates. Bylaws are traditionally amended at the annual meeting in November.
Owe it to members
Wells says he hasn’t decided whether to introduce a motion to that effect at the special meeting of delegates in Saskatoon July 13-14 that will decide the fate of the share proposal. And he added that regardless of the legal technicalities, the pool owes it to the members to hold a vote.
Many members feel disaffected and don’t believe the management and senior elected officials are listening to them, he said: “If the hierarchy was attuned to that, they’d realize that a membership vote is the best way of finding a way to deal with this issue. And if they truly believed that a majority of wheat pool members across the province were prepared to go into a completely different financial structure, they would acquiesce (and hold a vote).”
