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Farmers Show Strong CWB Support in Director Elections
December 7, 2008
© Paul Beingessner Column #698 beingessner@sasktel.net
One of the most contentious CWB director elections to date ended on Sunday, with a result sure to have the federal government gnashing its teeth. Supporters of the CWB's single desk won four out of five of the districts holding elections. The exception was District Two, in Alberta. Three of the five elected directors are new to the board, as incumbents in these three districts were not eligible to run again.
In the four districts that elected CWB supporters, the margins of victory were large, with 60 percent of voters, on average, voting for single desk supporters. The largest margin fell to Bill Woods, in District Four. This was formerly held by Ken Ritter, who could not run again. Significantly, the two Conservative MPs whose ridings cover most of District Four are Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and David Anderson, the MP with responsibilities for the CWB. Both Anderson and Ritz have been vocal and aggressive opponents of the CWB, claiming that their own electoral victories showed that farmers want to see the single desk eliminated.
Woods took the district on the first ballot, with 63.4 percent of the vote. Wood's main opponent, Sam Magnus, held several positions with the federal Reform and Conservative parties, including a stint on the national council of the Conservative Party. Magnus' status within the party didn't help him much as he garnered only 28.5 percent of total votes. If Ritz and Anderson have a vestige of honesty, these MPs will drop the pretense that their schemes to neuter the board are supported by a majority of farmers.
Several other points stand out from the election. The Conservative government continued its overt interference in the election, including pruning the voters list further and sending letters to a select group of farmers, telling them how they might obtain ballots.
The culmination of government interference came when five prairie MPs used their parliamentary expense accounts to send personal letters to farmers on the voters list, telling them to vote for anti-single desk candidates. One of these MPs was David Anderson. As Wood's substantial victory demonstrated, this strategy failed miserably. Hopefully, when Parliament resumes in January, in whatever form it might take, Anderson will be required to account for this misuse of Parliamentary money, and to explain how he acquired the voters list. That list is supposed to be confidential to the candidates.
Another of the four MPs, Andrew Scheer of Regina-Qu'Appelle, used his expense account to send a personal attack on re-elected CWB director Rod Flaman. Flaman was Scheer's Liberal opponent in the federal election. Scheer claimed that Flaman "shamelessly shirked his responsibilities to the farmers who elected him and spent the last year campaigning for federal office while collecting his CWB pay cheque".
Apparently farmers trusted Flaman more than they trusted Scheer, whose closest connection to agriculture is being an insurance salesman in Regina. Flaman won the district with 60.3 percent of the vote on the third ballot.
Currently, the CWB board consists of fifteen directors, with ten elected by farmers and five appointed by the federal government. Eight of the ten farmer-elected directors support the single desk, but the directors appointed by the Conservative government in Ottawa line up directly with the government in its opinion of the CWB. The very strong showing by pro-CWB candidates calls into question the legitimacy of the directors appointed by the government. Clearly they do not represent the wishes of farmers who want the CWB to continue its current mandate. As such, their role at the board table should be minimized to any specific areas of expertise they might have. Obstruction is not considered an area of expertise.
On a positive note for those candidates who were defeated, the Saskatchewan government seems to have a home for anti-single desk defeated candidates in Enterprise Saskatchewan. The Agriculture Sector Team has a couple on its board, including the chair, Gerrid Gust. While the province has aligned itself with the federal government's anti-board stand, maybe it's time for the Saskatchewan Party to reconsider its support of a position farmers' clearly do not support.
On a final note, the rate of return of ballots reached 54 percent, a very good return for a mail-in ballot. The Conservatives have yet to find a way to manipulate the voters list that will give them the result they want.
© Paul Beingessner (306) 868-4734 beingessner@sasktel.net |