October 25, 2002
Letter to
the Editor
On October the 31st, 2002, a number of
farmers from Alberta and Saskatchewan will report to prison officials to
serve time for violating a Customs and Canadian Wheat Board regulation
that has been proven nonexistent by the Dave Sawatsky trial and the failure
of the Justice Department to reverse the decision in the Appeal
Court. The fact that Wheat Board Minister Ralph Goodale has used the
Customs and Revenue Minister and the Solicitor General either to delay or
hide from the public the decision of a Saskatchewan farmer's challenge of
the violations Customs Officials charge him with, should be enough to dismiss
all charges against the convicted farmers.
The fact that the Auditor General was
prevented from investigating any of the farmer's complaints about Export
Licenses that were issued by the CWB prior to the New Act needs to be
investigated. The interference by someone in preventing the Auditor
General to fulfill her mandate under Section 8.1 of the new Act to audit
accounts and financial transactions for such years as the Auditor General
considers appropriate, is a far more serious offense than transporting a
bushel of grain across the U.S. border. Corporate fraud and
wrongdoing has become the main enemy of our economy and must be dealt
with.
The Auditor General's Report indicating the
CWB fell short in their Audit Report of Crop Year 2000 demands that the
CEO and the Board report the corrective measures that have been
implemented. Failure to answer in writing the 21 questions drafted
by farmers from recommendations made by the Auditor General's Report, is a
clear violation of the Board's own code of ethics. Directors who
refused to provide this information should be disqualified from being
candidates for re-election in 2002. The malicious prosecution of
farmers and the RCMP's refusal to investigate their complaints, puts into
question the fairness of the whole Canadian justice system.
To resolve the CWB dispute, the new
Solicitor General has two options: one is to order an investigation in the
Wheat Board's Export Licenses and the cost of the buy-back; the other to
accept the Standing Committee on Agriculture recommendations to make the
CWB a voluntary entity.
The real question Canadians should be
asking is "will the CWB monopoly affect wheat production to the point
where we are unable to fill our own needs?" The irony of it all
is that honest, hard working farmers in our democracy are forced into jail
as political prisoners for protecting the assets of their farms.
It will be interesting to see how the Wheat
Board and Government officials will spin-doctor the Human Rights Abuses of
these imprisoned farmers.
Jake Hoeppner |
