Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Friday, December 16, 2011

Senate passes Canadian Wheat Board bill

The Conservative majority in the Senate gave final approval Dec. 15 to legislation stripping the Canadian Wheat Board of its marketing monopoly, but the political dogfight surrounding the law may be far from over.

The provisions of the bill don’t come into effect until the bill receives Royal assent. When that might happen was unclear.

Meanwhile, lawyers representing eight farmer-elected wheat board directors, who face dismissal as soon as Royal assent happens, will be in the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench Dec. 16, trying to get a judicial hold slapped on the implementation of the bill.

The directors want the court to order the government not to implement any provisions of the bill until the Federal Court of Appeal rules on a federal challenge to a lower court ruling Dec. 6.

It said Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz violated a provision of the existing Canadian Wheat Board Act by not holding a plebiscite among Western farmers on the plan to ending the monopoly by Aug. 1, 2012.

Ritz says the law has to come into force immediately so farmers can begin negotiating in January on sales contracts for their 2012 crop.

Opposing the directors’ request will be lawyers representing the federal government and the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, with the backing of Grain Growers of Canada and Western Barley Growers Association.

“The reality is that many farmers, Canadian Wheat Board staff and the grain industry are a long way down the road planning for change and this continual delaying is causing uncertainty, which will hurt all farmers in the end,” said Richard Phillips, executive director of Grain Growers of Canada. “It’s time to move on and accept change.”

Barley Growers president Brian Otto said the move by the directors “is a desperate last-ditch attempt to create uncertainty … in a grain industry that is ready to move forward. It is time for common sense to prevail, so that farmers and the industry can move forward in a logical and predictable manner in an open market, without the constant threat of legal challenges from the outgoing Canadian Wheat Board directors.”

However, Terry Boehm, president of the National Farmers Union, which supports the monopoly, says the Dec. 16 court action “is an important moment in Canadian history. A federal government has been found to have broken the law. It cannot simply ignore such a ruling. The rule of law is fundamental to any democratic society. These are fundamental values of Canadian society.”

In addition to the ending the monopoly and dismissing the elected directors, the Canadian Wheat Board legislation will put the five current government-appointed directors in charge of overseeing a five-year transition period that will make the board into a farmer-owned entity.

Origin
Source: iPolitico 

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