Barry Wilson
PRODUCER.com
2013-01-19
Last week’s Supreme Court refusal to review
government legislation that ended the Canadian Wheat
Board wheat and barley monopoly essentially ends the
legal battle, says the NDP Board spokesman.
And Pat Martin, veteran Winnipeg MP whose downtown
riding houses CWB head offices, said Jan. 18 that the
continued farmer pursuit of a class action suit against
the Conservative government is a faint hope at best.
During the House of Commons debate over ending the
CWB single desk, Martin was one of the most fierce
opponents.
Now, in an interview after an NDP caucus meeting in
Ottawa Jan. 18, he said farmers should be realistic that
the fight has been all but lost.
Last week, the Supreme Court refused to hear a
Friends of the CWB appeal of an appeal’s court
judgment last year that dismantled a Federal Court
judgment that concluded without farmer consent to
dismantle the CWB monopoly, the government and
agriculture minister Gerry Ritz were violating the rule
of law.
The appeals court ruling last year said the government
acted within the law and the Federal Court ruling was
wrong.
The Supreme Court rejected an appeal to review that
decision.
“I don’t see any other recourse from a legal point of
view,” said Martin. “In Winnipeg we’re still reeling with
the impact and the ramifications and jobs lost but I
think the legal fight is over.”
The FCWB vowed last week to continue a class action
suit against Ottawa demanding $17 billion for lost
income and assets because of the loss of the single
desk.
Martin counseled farmers not to make an assumption
of winning a part of their business plan.
“My sense is that there is not much of a basis for a
class action suit because you would have to start from
the assumption that the government did not have the
right to implement this and the courts have ruled on
that,” he said. “It is uncharted waters and you never
say never but it really boils down to a very faint hope.”
PRODUCER.com
2013-01-19
Last week’s Supreme Court refusal to review
government legislation that ended the Canadian Wheat
Board wheat and barley monopoly essentially ends the
legal battle, says the NDP Board spokesman.
And Pat Martin, veteran Winnipeg MP whose downtown
riding houses CWB head offices, said Jan. 18 that the
continued farmer pursuit of a class action suit against
the Conservative government is a faint hope at best.
During the House of Commons debate over ending the
CWB single desk, Martin was one of the most fierce
opponents.
Now, in an interview after an NDP caucus meeting in
Ottawa Jan. 18, he said farmers should be realistic that
the fight has been all but lost.
Last week, the Supreme Court refused to hear a
Friends of the CWB appeal of an appeal’s court
judgment last year that dismantled a Federal Court
judgment that concluded without farmer consent to
dismantle the CWB monopoly, the government and
agriculture minister Gerry Ritz were violating the rule
of law.
The appeals court ruling last year said the government
acted within the law and the Federal Court ruling was
wrong.
The Supreme Court rejected an appeal to review that
decision.
“I don’t see any other recourse from a legal point of
view,” said Martin. “In Winnipeg we’re still reeling with
the impact and the ramifications and jobs lost but I
think the legal fight is over.”
The FCWB vowed last week to continue a class action
suit against Ottawa demanding $17 billion for lost
income and assets because of the loss of the single
desk.
Martin counseled farmers not to make an assumption
of winning a part of their business plan.
“My sense is that there is not much of a basis for a
class action suit because you would have to start from
the assumption that the government did not have the
right to implement this and the courts have ruled on
that,” he said. “It is uncharted waters and you never
say never but it really boils down to a very faint hope.”
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