The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision not to hear an appeal by the Canadian Wheat Board leaves the federal government firmly in control of the grain marketing agency.
The court last week declined to hear an appeal by the CWB against a June 2009 decision by the Federal Court of Appeal. It gave no reasons.
As a result, that court’s ruling that Ottawa can direct the CWB on any matter of governance will stand.
“I’m certainly disappointed,” said CWB chair Larry Hill.
He said the case wasn’t just about the 2006 order imposed on the board to prevent it from advocating single desk marketing.
Read Also
Taking a look inside Canada’s seed regulatory overhaul
ive years, eight task teams, 130 volunteers and 135 recommendations later, Canada’s seed industry is still waiting for meaningful regulatory change.
“It’s about a principle that farmers elect CWB directors and those elected representatives should make decisions about how their organization allocates resources,” he said. “It’s as simple as that.”
Wheat board and agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said he welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the case.
“This government has always maintained that the CWB should stick to its mandate of marketing grain, not spending farmers’ money on lobbying for their own political purposes,” he wrote in an e-mail.
“The decision to dismiss with costs proves the wheat board wasted farmers’ money to bring forward a frivolous court action.”
CWB chair Larry Hill rejected Ritz’ comments.
“This was not frivolous, it was not about politics, it was about farmer control of the wheat board.”
He said it was worth spending farmers’ money to pursue the case because a victory at the Supreme Court would have established once and for all that farmers run the marketing agency.
The Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, a group that has long opposed the CWB monopoly, said the federal government should take advantage of the decision to bring in new marketing rules.
“In effect, the ruling provides the federal government with the authority to introduce a voluntary wheat board,” said association president Kevin Bender.
The board won the first round of the court battle in 2008 when a Federal Court judge ruled the order was improperly intended to stop the board from speaking out publicly and that it was not a spending restriction as the government argued. He ordered that the order be lifted.
The Court of Appeal overturned that decision in June 2009 and the order was re-instated.
