NFU asks Auditor General to investigate barley vote
April 19, 2007
SASKATOON, Sask.—The NFU today sent a letter to
Auditor General Sheila Fraser asking her to
investigate the government’s conduct and spending
in the Canadian Wheat Board barley marketing
plebiscite. The NFU letter detailed numerous flaws
in the plebiscite process, everything from the
government’s refusal to control third-party
spending to its refusal to allow scrutiny of the lists
of entities that received or returned ballots.
“Madam Auditor General, in its CWB barley
marketing plebiscite, the Minister and his
department conducted themselves in a manner that
is unfair, undemocratic, and damaging to the public
interest. Further, in so doing, the Minister and his
department and government MPs improperly spent
public money while simultaneously imposing
draconian spending limits on those they disagreed
with,” said the NFU letter.
The NFU’s letter noted irregularities in the balloting
process. In one case, over the phone, one spouse
okayed the destruction of the other spouse’s ballot
—election officials never talked with the spouse
who actually filled in the ballot. “The informality of
the way accounting firm reps arrange the
destruction of ballots, seemingly with no paper
trail, is unprecedented in any credible voting
process we know of. We are confident that an in-
depth examination of the voting record and
declarations will reveal many irregularities and a
pattern of indefensible informality when dealing
with farmers’ ballots,” said the NFU.
The letter also raised questions about the plebiscite
question and quoted a portion of Prime Minister
Stephen Harper’s 1996 Private Member’s Bill,
C-341, that eventually became the prototype for
our Clarity Act. In C-341, commenting on a future
Quebec referendum, but in terms that have broader
applicability, Harper said: “a referendum or
plebiscite, if the question is ambiguous or
unclear…., would be contrary to the interests of
Canadians….” C-341 goes on to say that “The
Government of Canada shall not recognize any
referendum or plebiscite … if the question is
ambiguous or unclear….”
Harper’s C-341 recommended a remedy for an
unclear referendum question: a new referendum
with a clear question. That is what the NFU has
asked the Auditor General to recommend. “If you
find the misconduct and mis-spending we believe
you will find, we ask that you declare the results of
the plebiscite invalid. Further, we suggest that the
proper remedy for this situation—an unclear
question, no clear majority, a lack of democratic
safeguards—is the one proposed by Stephen
Harper: a parallel referendum conducted on a clear
question utilizing proper procedures and
safeguards.”
April 19, 2007
SASKATOON, Sask.—The NFU today sent a letter to
Auditor General Sheila Fraser asking her to
investigate the government’s conduct and spending
in the Canadian Wheat Board barley marketing
plebiscite. The NFU letter detailed numerous flaws
in the plebiscite process, everything from the
government’s refusal to control third-party
spending to its refusal to allow scrutiny of the lists
of entities that received or returned ballots.
“Madam Auditor General, in its CWB barley
marketing plebiscite, the Minister and his
department conducted themselves in a manner that
is unfair, undemocratic, and damaging to the public
interest. Further, in so doing, the Minister and his
department and government MPs improperly spent
public money while simultaneously imposing
draconian spending limits on those they disagreed
with,” said the NFU letter.
The NFU’s letter noted irregularities in the balloting
process. In one case, over the phone, one spouse
okayed the destruction of the other spouse’s ballot
—election officials never talked with the spouse
who actually filled in the ballot. “The informality of
the way accounting firm reps arrange the
destruction of ballots, seemingly with no paper
trail, is unprecedented in any credible voting
process we know of. We are confident that an in-
depth examination of the voting record and
declarations will reveal many irregularities and a
pattern of indefensible informality when dealing
with farmers’ ballots,” said the NFU.
The letter also raised questions about the plebiscite
question and quoted a portion of Prime Minister
Stephen Harper’s 1996 Private Member’s Bill,
C-341, that eventually became the prototype for
our Clarity Act. In C-341, commenting on a future
Quebec referendum, but in terms that have broader
applicability, Harper said: “a referendum or
plebiscite, if the question is ambiguous or
unclear…., would be contrary to the interests of
Canadians….” C-341 goes on to say that “The
Government of Canada shall not recognize any
referendum or plebiscite … if the question is
ambiguous or unclear….”
Harper’s C-341 recommended a remedy for an
unclear referendum question: a new referendum
with a clear question. That is what the NFU has
asked the Auditor General to recommend. “If you
find the misconduct and mis-spending we believe
you will find, we ask that you declare the results of
the plebiscite invalid. Further, we suggest that the
proper remedy for this situation—an unclear
question, no clear majority, a lack of democratic
safeguards—is the one proposed by Stephen
Harper: a parallel referendum conducted on a clear
question utilizing proper procedures and
safeguards.”
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