Eduard Hiebert

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Please note this address will change without notice.
The formal decisions made may be found at:

Mainil v. CWB & MNP (Word document)

Mainil v. CWB & MNP (WordPerfect document)

Mainil v. CWB & MNP (Text document)

Please note the WordPerfect document is the original and the other two are provided for your convenience.

December 23, 2004 A.D.

Summary of Decision by Eduard Hiebert

In Justice McTavish's decision released today regarding Art Mainil's application in the Federal Court concerning election irregularities against the Canadian Wheat Board and Meyers Norris Penny, the decision on the requested application for an injunction failed on both required tests, first "There is no evidence to support Mr. Mainil's claim that he will be irreparably harmed by the announcement of the election results, beyond his bare assertion" and contrary to Mainil's claims the Judge found "the balance of convenience strongly favours allowing the election to proceed."

The dismissal of the injunction application does not end the matter here as the Court did find "a serious issue exists with respect to the failure of the CWB and MNP to include the Omitted Producers on the voters list" and that "It is clear that MNP is in technical breach of section 20 (2) of the Regulations... (for failing to) sort the ballots... IN THE PRESENCE OF INDEPENDENT SCRUTINEERS" (emphasis added by the Court). 

As this matter may still be tried, the Court ordered that MNP must segregate the count of the late additions from the others to see if their exclusion and late inclusion will have made any material difference.  The Court also raised the issue not yet replied to by MNP or the CWB, whether Mainil has standing regarding the other three districts in addition to where he is a candidate.

This decision paves the way for the CWB to get on with its serious day to day business.  This decision also supports that how these privatized elections have been conducted, not only in this election but in all others represents a serious breach in democratic disciplines and that producers on both sides of the CWB debate would be well served by demanding and getting a swift inquiry run by the directors to seek out and find ways to apply Election Canada type democratic disciplines to the CWB elections.

Among the first that I would advance is that the regulations defining farmers as having a conflict of interest in running their own elections must be removed, so that the farmers who make up the body of sovereign voters can fully participate in the elections and have the confidence that the elections are conducted openly, fairly and produce an honest result.  Under such rules, these accidents waiting to happen would likely never have happened.

 

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