Court of Appeal Reserves Decision in CWB Case

Lawyers for the Federal Government and Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board appeared before the Federal Court of Appeal Wednesday.

Government lawyers were appealing a previous court ruling that found Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz had violated the original Canadian Wheat Board Act, which required a plebiscite among farmers before any major changes were made.

"In December, Justice Campbell ruled that the minister did break the law. He issued a declaration saying that the minister should have conducted a vote of farmers before they dismantled the Canadian Wheat Board," said Swift Current-area farmer Stewart Wells, who is part of the Friends of the CWB case and was in the Ottawa courtroom to hear the case. "Subsequent to that, the government appealed the ruling and that was the appeal that was heard.

"There were three justices from the Federal Court of Appeal that heard the arguments," Wells added. "The arguments presented were essentially a re-run of the same arguments that were presented in December of last year before the bill eviscerating the Wheat Board was passed."

The Court of Appeal reserved its decision.

Ritz says he’s confident that the court will see the merits of their case, and adds the Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act is in force and farmers are already contracting their wheat and barley with buyers of their choice for delivery beginning August 1, 2012.