Wheat board appeal allowed, hearing arguments today

The Federal Court of Appeal will allow an appeal of a ruling that said the federal government broke the law with its plan to strip the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly over western wheat and barley sales.

The Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board and others, including the board's former directors, had asked the Federal Court of Appeal to quash Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz's motion to appeal a lower court's decision.

On Wednesday, however, the federal appeals court said it would allow Ritz's appeal to be heard.

It's the latest legal step in a long and bitter battle over the fate of the wheat board.

Last year, a Federal Court judge ruled Ritz violated the original Canadian Wheat Board Act, which required a plebiscite among farmers before any major changes were made.

But Justice Douglas Campbell's ruling did not stop the Conservatives from passing a law in December to open up sales to the free market and changing the wheat board to a voluntary agency for producers.
Minister 'thumbed his nose at the court'

John Lorn McDougall, the lawyer for the former directors, had argued Ritz ignored the Federal Court's ruling by going ahead with legislation to dismantle the wheat board's monopoly.

"He simply thumbed his nose at the court," McDougall said.

A government lawyer said Ritz did no such thing.

"I'm very confident in the outcome of the judgment," Larry Bohdanovich, a Manitoba farmer who is part of the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board, told CBC News on Tuesday.

"If the judgment is not in the favour of the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board … definitely, we will be appealing it to the Supreme Court."

Since the 1940s, wheat and barley farmers in Western Canada had to sell their grain through the board.

The Conservatives long promised to allow farmers the option of independently selling their grain, as their counterparts do in other regions.

The move has the support of many farm groups, who say producers can often get better prices on the open market.

But supporters of the monopoly say the open market will leave farmers at the mercy of railways and big, international grain companies.

They argue the monopoly prevented producers from competing against each other for sales.

Bohdanovich, who farms near Grandview, Man., said he would have accepted the wheat board's demise if the government had handled the matter differently.

"I still respect my neighbours that do not want the wheat board, but I would want to have a vote on it," he said.

Wednesday's hearing is scheduled to last four hours.

Original Article
Source: CBC
Author: CP