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Legal wrangling over the Canadian Wheat Board

A legal battle in Canada over the future of the Canadian Wheat Board. Since 1942 the CWB has handled the marketing of all wheat and barley grown in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and parts of British Colombia. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party plans to have a new, free-market system in place in Canada by next August which would allow farmers to sell their grain on their own rendering the CWB obsolete. Legislation was introduced last week to remove CWB as the monopolistic marketer and give them five years to implement a business plan to operate in an open market. The Conservatives hold the majority in the House of Commons and can pass the bill without any help.

The CWB filed suit in an effort to stop the legislation even though their legal counsel told them the challenge would be useless. Two of the board’s ten farmer-elected directors have resigned to reflect their objection to the suit while the eight remaining directors support the effort.

Now the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association has instructed their lawyers to seek an injunction against the CWB and the remaining eight directors for misusing farmer funds for political purposes including the legal action.

Meanwhile, arguments are scheduled for December 6th in another suit filed in Winnipeg by “Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board” claiming the government does not have the right to dissolve the CWT without farmer approval.

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