CWB Review Must Be Made Public
(January 17, 2005 - Western Producer) A Federal
judge's decision to allow the vote count to proceed on the Canadian Wheat
Board's director elections was the correct one.
But it's only a small victory for the CWB. The issues raised before the
court in this case and problems that have arisen in past elections show
that a thorough review is needed.
Justice Anne Mactavish ruled Dec. 23 that votes in the four contested CWB
districts could be counted. In doing so, she rejected a request from
candidate and wheat board opponent Art mainil that the vote count be
halted because of irregularities.
About 200 eligible producers were assigned to vote in wrong districts and
another 792 were left off the voters' list.
The wheat board and Meyers Norris Penny, the firm hired to co-ordinate the
election, found the mistake and moved to correct it by sending late
ballots, but some feel the process was already damaged and that recipients
of late ballots did not have enough time to send them in.
The ruling was far from a ringing endorsement of the voting process.
Mactavish left the door open for a judicial review, as Mainil has
requested, saying a "serious issue" exists with the inaccurate
voters list. She called it "arguably more than a technical
breech...."
This is not the first wheat board election beset with problems. In the
first one in 1998, the firm then hired to co-ordinate the vote found a
computer error that called into question the results in three districts.
In elections since, there have also been complaints of incorrect voters
lists, improper third party spending, candidate overspending and conflict
of interest allegations.
Both sides of the ideological spectrum have questioned the fairness of the
elections. Earlier this year, the National Farmers Union asked that Elections
Canada step in to ensure proper conduct, as have many long-time wheat
board opponents.
Whether the mistakes were merely glitches that had no effect on the
ultimate outcomes of any of the elections matters little. There is a
crisis of confidence in the system that must be fixed.
Meaningful review and changes are necessary to restore faith and remove
the perception of bias in the system.
The CWB has taken a first step by announcing plans for an internal review.
However, statements from the wheat board that the review will not be made
public are astounding.
We wonder how the board hopes to convince doubters that the review is
impartial if the findings are kept locked away in the agency's filing
cabinets. An internal review designed for CWB eyes only could lead to more
outrage about board secrecy and suggested impropriety.
At least one director is pushing for an independent review, which is a
better option because the review must satisfy every reasonable person who
has a stake in its business. If that cannot be achieved, a judicial review
may present the best course of action.
Bruce Dyck, Terry Fries, Barb Glen,
D'Arce McMillan and Ken Zacharias collaborate in the writing of Western
Producer editorials. |
