Tories to reform wheat board despite court ruling

The Conservative governmentwillpress ahead with its planto abolishthe Canadian Wheat Board's marketing monopoly, despite a Federal Court ruling that says Ottawa broke the law by failing to consult with farmers.

A Federal Court judge in Winnipegruled Wednesday that Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritzbreached the Canadian Wheat Board Act by making changes without holding a plebiscitefor producers.

During a news conference later in the day, Ritz said the government will appeal the ruling and will aim to pass the legislation by the end of the year as planned.

"Let me be clear, we will never reconsider western wheat and barley farmers' fundamental rights to market their own wheat and barley,"Ritz said.

Justice Douglas Campbell wrote in the court decision that repealing the Wheat Board Act without consulting producers "is threatening and should be approached with caution."

"Generally speaking, when advancing a significant change to an established management scheme, the failure to provide a meaningful opportunity for dissenting voices to be heard and accommodated forces resort to legal means to have them heard.

"Had a meaningful consultative process been engaged to find a solution which meets the concerns of the majority, the present legal action might not have been necessary."

Ritz introduced Bill C-18 in Parliament in October to end the wheat board's 60-year marketing monopoly on western wheat and barley by next August.

If passed, it would enable the government to dismantle the CWB single deskwithout first having held a producers' plebiscite as required under Section 47.1 of the Canadian Wheat Board Act.

Calls to delay legislation

Opposition MPs have asked that the government to hold off on passing the legislation until the court proceedings run their course.

"If they have any respect whatsoever for the parliamentary process, they would put the brakes on Bill C-18 until such time as the superior courts have ruled on the matter," New Democrat MP Pat Martin told reporters on Parliament Hill.

'If they have any respect whatsoever for the parliamentary process, they would put the brakes on Bill C-18' New Democrat MP Pat Martin

Canadian Wheat Board chairman Allen Oberg said he was pleased with the court's ruling and urged the federal government "to do the right thing" instead of continuing "to defy the law."

Oberg is scheduledto address a Senate committee on Thursday and said he will urge them to halt the legislation.

Pushing through the bill before the courts hear the appealwould show "contempt not only for farmers but for the whole democratic system," he told Evan Solomon on the CBC-TV's Power & Politics.

Farmers divided

Lawyers for the wheat board and government made their arguments in Federal Court in Winnipeg on Tuesday.

CWB lawyer John McDougall stressed the importance ofSection 47.1 of theWheat Board Act and that changes cannot be made unless "the producers of the grain have voted in favour of the exclusion or extension."

Government lawyers, in turn, had argued the case should be dismissed because the courts have no jurisdiction to override legislation being debated in Parliament.

Governments are free to amend or repeal laws as they see fit, the lawyers told the court.

Bill C-18 has divided farmers. The board was set up following the Great Depression in an effort to have farmers band together and seek higher prices.

Supporters say the single desk prevents producers from competing against each other for sales.

Detractors say they want the freedom to seek better deals on the open market.

They point out that producers of other grains, as well as wheat farmers in other parts of Canada, already have that freedom.