A Saskatchewan lawyer said on Monday that he will file a C$15.4 billion ($15 billion) class action lawsuit against the Canadian government over the dismantling of the Wheat Board's grain monopoly. But Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz called the legal action "baseless" and said it would not affect Western Canada's move to an open grain market.
Tony Merchant said the government must pay western farmers for the Canadian Wheat Board's assets, which he said include C$100 million in cash, 3,402 rail hopper cars, Great Lakes freighters, an office building and other assets. "Whether or not a person is in favour or against the dismantling of the CWB, farmers agree that the value of CWB assets cannot simply be subsumed by the federal government and that instead it should be farmers themselves who receive the value of these assets," Merchant said in a press release.
"To do otherwise would resemble a classic case of theft by conversion." The move is the latest of several legal entanglements around the government's move to end the world's last major agricultural monopoly, which has sharply divided farmers.
"It's disappointing to see further misguided legal action against Western Canadian farmers and their right to the same freedoms as farmers in Ontario already enjoy," Ritz said in a statement. The Conservative government passed a law in December ending the board's marketing monopoly over Western Canada's wheat and barley for milling or export, as of August 2012.
Farmers will be able to sell those crops to any buyer, not just the Wheat Board, but some believe the marketing monopoly gave them added clout to receive the highest prices. When the law passed, the government took control of the board from a group of farmer-elected directors.
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