Former directors and supporters of the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly are not letting it go down without a fight.
Cam Goff, director for district six of the Wheat Board from 2008-2011, said the federal government “broke the laws of Canada” when it dissolved the board in December 2011 without first holding a plebiscite among grain producers. He said the government could have easily changed or repealed the law forcing them to hold a plebiscite, but “just ignored the law” instead when they introduced legislation, Bill C-18, in October 2011 to end the single desk for 2012 harvested crop.
Section 47 of the Canadian Wheat Board Act says the government must hold a plebiscite among grain producers before making these changes to the board.
This action by the government drove the Wheat Board as an organization and eight of its former directors to launch a lawsuit in Federal Court against the government arguing the dissolution of the board not go ahead because the government did not follow the rule of law. This lawsuit was seen before the court in December 2011 with the court ruling in the claimant’s favour.
“The judge came down very strongly that the federal government had actually really broken the law or they were not abiding by the rule of law,” said Goff. “He really felt the government had overstepped its bounds.”
The federal government then appealed the case to the Federal Court of Appeal, which sided with the government in a ruling “sometime in late February or March” that refused the directors’ request for a stay of the dissolution of the board and that the federal government’s dissolution actions could go forward.
The claimants then asked the Supreme Court of Canada to decide the case. The Supreme Court ruled it would not hear the appeal Jan. 17. They did not give reasons for this decision.
“Really, we’ve run out of legal options,” said Goff. “Having the Supreme Court say that they’re not going to hear the case means that, aside from the class-action lawsuit, there really is nothing else legally we can do to try to have the government obey the law.
“Unfortunately, the court system doesn’t seem to think the federal government has to be bound by the laws of this country and I find that incredibly disappointing. They should be willing to hear the arguments, but they just said ‘no we’re not even going to listen to you,’ so I find that very disturbing.
“I always thought Canada was a democratic country that works by the rule of law, but apparently it is run by the rule of bye law.”
The class-action lawsuit, launched in Federal Court in February 2012, seeks to reinstate the Wheat Board’s monopoly and if that can’t happen to compensate the affected farmers with $17 billion in damages for the loss.
Goff said the lawsuit includes every farmer in Western Canada who sold grain through the Canadian Wheat Board between 2006 and 2011, unless a farmer specifically requests not to be a part of it. He said everyone involved in the lawsuit would be treated equally in regards to the compensation, but the $17 billion amount is just a starting figure, which will eventually be decided by the court once they adjudicate on the issue.
To read more please see the January 28 print edition of The Davidson Leader.
Category Archives: featured
Pasture patrons form provincial group
Saskatchewan ranchers and farmers who use the province’s PFRA community pastures have united to form an association with the aim of ensuring the pastures remain viable for cattle production and grazing.
More than 200 patrons last Wednesday packed the Sutherland Hall in Saskatoon to learn about and then support a proposal to form the Community Pasture Patron’s Association of Saskatchewan (CPPAS).
Nearly every pasture in the province was represented. The turnout demonstrated that farmers and ranchers, although separated by geography, ideology and even political philosophy, could come together on at least one issue: federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz’s April 2012 announcement that Ottawa would end the management of community pastures by 2018.
The government’s plan to disband the 75-year-old PFRA pasture system and sell or lease the lands has raised widespread concerns from patrons worried about losing the professional grazing management provided by the PFRA pasture managers as well for the ecological well-being of the land.
The patrons at the meeting “overwhelmingly supported the idea,” to form an association said the CPPAS’s president and Bladworth farmer Ian McCreary, who represents the Elbow-Willner community pasture.
Patrons at the meeting gave the association a mandate to represent patrons on issues pertaining to the transition of PFRA pastures and to negotiate with the government on the financial terms on which the pastures are transferred to patrons.
One of its most pressing tasks is to “push for a delay” on the transfer of the first 10 pastures so that no pastures are transferred before the start of the 2015 grazing season.
McCreary said they want to slow down the process to allow due diligence to be done to ensure the long-term viability of the pastures and the environmental protection of those lands.
The transition of the first 10 of Saskatchewan’s 62 pastures is to start in the 2013 grazing season.
The federal government’s decision to get out of the community pastures business came unexpectedly as details of its budget last spring began to trickle out.
“It certainly came as a surprise to us,” Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart told the crowd.
To read more please see the January 28 print edition of The Davidson Leader.
Unused steel billboards cost taxpayers thousands
The Town of Davidson is out tens of thousands of dollars after a previous town council’s idea to generate revenue for the community didn’t quite work out as planned.
According to discussion around the council table last Monday, it was a well-meaning idea to erect two large steel billboards by Highway 11, which the town bought for around $30,000, in order to generate revenue for the town through paid advertising.
The steel signs were purchased less than two years ago in order to replace the wooden signs that grace the side of the highway. Council decided to replace the wooden signs because they are susceptible to damage by wind, but the new steel signs are now being sold without ever being put up due to the cost of erecting them.
At the April 20, 2010, Davidson town council meeting a request was presented by then-recreation director Morgan Grainger to purchase two steel billboards from Abacus Signs for an approximate total cost of $37,000 and that the funds be taken from the town recreation capital account. The motion was carried.
After purchasing the 12 feet by 48 feet steel billboards for $27,540 plus PST, it was learned that to erect them the town would need to put in three feet square by 16 feet deep concrete piles at a further cost to the town of $27,000. This is due to concerns of the large signs blowing over during a windstorm.
The idea to put up the billboards stopped there and they have been lying on the ground behind the Davidson Communiplex ever since.
Town council passed a motion to advertise for tenders for the two billboards at their March 20, 2012, meeting in an effort to sell them and recoup the cost. They have been unable to find any takers so far.
At the recent Jan. 14, 2012, town council meeting a motion was passed to try and sell the billboards at a reduced cost as a way to cut their losses instead of sinking any more money into the project.
NHL lockout cancels Super Draft season
The Kenaston Super Draft can be listed as one causality of the NHL owner’s lockout of its players this year.
Don George, chairman of the Super Draft, said they will not be operating a regular season draft this year and a playoff draft is currently up in the air as to whether one will be conducted. He said this is due to the length of time it would take to get a gaming license from the province and to get the forms made up of the players available to be picked as well as the poor response he expects to get from hockey fans turned off by the latest labour disagreement.
“It definitely affects our community,” said George of not having a draft, noting last year’s regular season draft raised $20,000 for community projects and employed a number of local people to implement it. “We have had a full-time employee who is out of a job plus all the part-time people who work during the draft and stuff. There is no employment for them either.”
George said it takes around six weeks to get the draft up and running putting them into the beginning of March before players could be selected, which would be about 20 games into the shortened 48-game 2013 season scheduled to begin this weekend. He said the season will also probably be extended into late April making the start of the playoffs occurring in early May when people have things on their mind other than hockey, if that is on their mind at all this year.
To read more please see the Jan. 14 print edition of The Davidson Leader.
Distracted drivers prove deadly
Distracted driving has taken over from impaired driving as the leading cause of fatalities on Saskatchewan highways with 57 reported deaths in RCMP jurisdictions up till Dec. 17, 2012, but drinking and driving is still regarded as the main problem.
“We would still consider impaired driving as the number one single contributing factor to fatal collisions only because it is one single factor,” said Rebecca Schulz, media relations manager at SGI. “When we talk about distracted driving we are talking about a number of different things and that includes cell phone use, texting while driving, eating, grooming, music and also just driver inattention.”
RCMP across the province recorded 162 deaths on Saskatchewan highways in 2012, up from the previous record of 151 fatalities in 2001. Distracted driving led the way as the biggest cause of fatal collisions, with alcohol-related deaths coming in second at 54 cases and speeding rounding out the top three with 37 instances.
“We are seeing an increase in the distracted driving count and that’s a concern for us,” said RCMP spokesman Sgt. Paul Dawson. “There has been stepped up enforcement and we’ve been out and we’re trying to bring attention to the issue as well.”
Dawson said cellphone use while driving is against the law in this province and there will be a fine of $280 handed out if caught by police while operating one, but with other factors related to distracted driving it is up to the discretion of the officer whether to issue a fine or not.
“It is any behaviour that takes away from the task at hand of driving such as reading, watching movies and putting on makeup,” he said.
To read more please see the Jan. 14 print edition of The Davidson Leader.
Blackstrap attracts developers’ proposals
The Reeve of the Rural Municipality of Dundurn is welcoming a move by three developers to make capital improvements to the recreation sites at Blackstrap Provincial Park.
“From our municipality’s perspective, our population is increasing with residential subdivisions and when people move into an area they like to have some leisure time and recreation is fairly important,” said Fred Wilson, Reeve of the RM of Dundurn. “With that facility right next door to our municipality we feel that the improvements there would greatly enhance the residential living in our municipality plus our neighbouring municipalities also.”
Wilson confirmed the three proposals that were submitted to the Saskatchewan Parks Service in December included one to rebuild the ski hill on Mount Blackstrap as well as add a year-round resort. The other two proposals involve leasing land in the park from the province in order to build cabins and concession stands.
“The process is a long way from the construction stage,” he said, noting the province must still look at these proposals first and then will tender out for more proposals later on in the year. “I don’t think there will be anything concrete done in the summer. From what I understand the tendering of proposals will take half the summer to get put in place. The way things are right now is we don’t expect anything will be happening in the near future other than just regular operations and upgrading of the maintenance.”
To read more please see the Jan. 14 print edition of The Davidson Leader.