WINNIPEG – Victory was sweet for Dave Sawatzky, though it may be short-lived.
The MacGregor, Man. farmer closed his eyes and exhaled deeply as Judge Arnold Connor announced his acquittal on two charges of failing to show a Canadian Wheat Board licence when exporting wheat and barley.
“Oh, I’m happy! I’m happy!” a jubilant Sawatzky told a swarm of reporters outside court last Friday. “I believed from day one that you cannot prosecute freedom in a free country.”
But the judge made it clear in his hour-long explanation of acquittal the verdict had nothing to do with whether the board should have a monopoly on the export of wheat and barley.
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“This is not a case about David versus Goliath,” Connor said. Rather, he based his reasoning on the ambiguity of a Customs regulation.
Connor said anglophone exporters looking at section five of the reporting of goods regulations could not be expected to conclude that they must provide a licence at the border.
He said the penalty of a $50,000 fine and/or six months in prison was “not insignificant,” and finding Sawatzky guilty of breaking an unclear regulation would be unreasonable.
He said the Customs Act would have to be amended to list the circumstances where licences or other documents have to be provided at the border.
Connor also said the Canadian Wheat Board Act created another difficulty in the case. Under the act, the board may grant an export licence, but it is not required to do so.
Agriculture minister Ralph Goodale announced shortly after the verdict that the regulations were amended that day to make it clear exporters need a wheat board licence and must show it at the border before leaving the country.
Crown attorney Clyde Bond said the departments of agriculture, justice and customs would review the judge’s ruling to determine whether to appeal.
On two related charges, Connor found Sawatzky guilty of failing to appear in court on March 15, 1995 and guilty of breach of a recognizance when he crossed the border with a truckload of oats on April 3, 1995.
Bond asked Connor to fine Sawatzky to “send a message” that court rules must be obeyed.
But Connor gave Sawatzky absolute discharges, saying Sawatzky already spent time in custody on both charges. He also said he disagreed with Bond’s evaluation of Sawatzky as “contemptuous.”
“At worst, one might concluded Mr. Sawatzky was playing the law game without a law degree,” he said.
Court evidence showed Sawatzky made 810 shipments of wheat to the U.S. between Nov. 30, 1993 and Aug. 12, 1994 worth more than $2 million U.S., and 50 shipments of barley between June 24 and Aug. 5, 1994 worth almost $900,000 U.S.
