Right-wing foes of the Canadian Wheat Board held aloft Andy McMechan as a martyr to their cause and vowed to assault the United States-Canada border with a 500-grain truck convoy sometime this winter.
About 250 farmers gathered for an early January meeting in Camrose, Alta., which featured a speech by McMechan, the Lyleton, Man. farmer who was jailed last year for repeatedly breaking the law. He shipped grain to the U.S. without a licence, ignored court orders and failed to appear in court.
A number of other activists also gave speeches, including anti-tax crusader Kevin Avram, Canadian Farmers For Justice member Ken Dillen and Reform party justice critic Jack Ramsay. The meeting was organized by Canadian Farmers For Justice.
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The speakers roused the audience with tales of alleged unfairnesses to McMechan done by the wheat board and justice system.
Tom Jackson, an Ardrossan, Alta. man who went on a hunger strike against the wheat board in 1996, urged producers to back McMechan.
“If each one of us don’t get down on our knees and pray to the supreme being for help, our children will have to take up arms,” Jackson said, claiming Canadians’ freedoms are being eroded.
Ramsay said he was appalled by McMechan’s jailing, which he said was unnecessary. He said he didn’t argue with McMechan’s conviction in the case, but said many violent offenders are released on bail and never end up in jail, while McMechan, a non-violent criminal, spent several months behind bars.
“There’s an inconsistency in the application of the law,” he said.
McMechan is appealing his conviction.
After the meeting, producer Perry Sundquist of Pigeon Lake, Alta. said he came to get more information about the upcoming plebiscite on barley, but said he had no doubts about McMechan’s incarceration.
“That was way out of line,” he said.
Peter and Ann Schellenberg of Endiang, Alta. said they weren’t troubled by McMechan’s criminal conviction.
“He shouldn’t have been arrested in the first place,” said Peter.
Ann said they want an end to the wheat board monopoly on principle.
“We’re looking for freedom for farmers,” she said. “Let them sell what they want to.”
Peter said he would probably lose money if the monopoly was removed, because he is a cattle feeder and would expect the price of grain to jump if the monopoly disappeared, but he doesn’t care: “I see the justice isn’t there for them.”
While McMechan has previously crossed the border in defiance of court orders, he appears willing this time to abide by the order to stay half a mile away from the 49th parallel, and will not take part in the 500-truck convoy.
He said he will have a lawyer for the appeal of his conviction, but vowed that will not distract him from his fundamental disagreement with the wheat board monopoly.
“Lawyers don’t want to even understand what this is about,” he said after the meeting.
