Some 16,000 prairie farmers who expected to receive a ballot for the Canadian Wheat Board’s director elections will instead first have to file a statutory declaration.
CWB minister Chuck Strahl announced the last minute changes Oct. 17, more than a month after the election period began and just a few days before ballots were to be sent out.
Producers who have not delivered to the CWB in either the 2005-06 or 2006-07 crop years are not automatically included on the voters list and will have to file a declaration that they grew one of the seven qualifying crops in one of those years.
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Previously, anyone with a permit book was included on the voters list.
As a result, 16,169 of the 44,578 farmers have been removed from the list for this fall’s elections. They will be sent a statutory declaration that must be returned to the election co-ordinator by Nov. 17 to receive a ballot.
The change prompted farm groups and election candidates to accuse the government of deliberately disrupting the election to undermine the CWB, charges rejected by government officials.
“I am disappointed to say this is more evidence that the federal Conservatives are bent on dismantling the CWB and will use questionable tactics to do so,” said CWB director Art Macklin, seeking re-election in District 1.
Macklin said he thinks the change in the list will make little difference to the outcome of the elections. But he criticized the timing of the announcement, noting the government has known about the issue for months.
“The minister was aware of this issue almost as soon as he was appointed in February and no action was taken until the middle of the election period,” he said.
A CWB election review panel appointed by the previous Liberal government had recommended a similar change in its December 2005 report, which Strahl discussed with the board in February 2006.
A spokesperson for Strahl said the change will result in a more accurate voters list and disputed suggestions it would disrupt the election and confuse voters.
“There’s plenty of time between now and the end of the voting period for those 16,000 to get a ballot,” said Conrad Bellehumeur, Strahl’s director of communication.
He declined to comment on the timing of the changes.
Election co-ordinator Peter Eckersley said most people who are interested in completing the statutory declaration will have time to get a ballot.But he also criticized the timing of the change.
“If this enhances the quality and accuracy of the voters list, I’m all for it,” he said. “But if the minister had made this decision six weeks ago, it would have been much better for everyone.”
The government sent a directive to the board Sept. 21 that it send two separate voters lists to elections co-ordinator Meyers Norris Penny, one based on the old rules and one on the proposed rules.
After receiving legal advice that the minister had the authority to issue such a directive, the board complied.
CWB chair Ken Ritter declined to comment on whether the board agreed with the change to the voters list.
“We did express concern about the potential confusion this could cause, but he had a right to make the request and so we complied,” he said.
Ritter said the board had expressed support for the review panel’s recommendation that only farmers who had delivered at least 40 tonnes to the board in one of the previous two years should receive a ballot. None of those interviewed for this story was willing to speculate on whether the 16,000 dropped off the ballot would be more likely to support single desk or open market candidates.
“I don’t think we can make any assumptions about that at all,” said Ritter.
