Federal Court rules that the Harper Government broke the law in abolishing the Canadian Wheat Board

On Dec. 7, 2011, Justice Campbell of the Federal Court issued a declaration that the Minister of Agriculture, Gerry Ritz, acted in breach of his statutory obligation to hold a plebiscite of farmers before abolishing the Canadian Wheat Board's "single desk" mandate for marketing wheat and barley.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada, the Council of Canadians, Food Secure Canada, and the ETC Group (the "Interveners") were given public interest standing in the applications for the purpose of addressing important international trade and constitutional questions raised by the Minister's actions. The Court's decision repeats and adopts the Interveners' submissions on these two key points.

Click here to read more (the information above was extracted from and article on Rabble.com)

Read the Globe and Mail article

For a full report from the hearing, click here

UPDATE: The Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board (FCWB) has announced that the law firm of Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP (SGM), working with FCWB counsel, Anders Bruun, has launched a court action in the Federal Court of Canada.

The action would restore the Canadian Wheat Board and recover damages farmers have suffered as a result of Ottawa’s tampering with western grain marketing. 

This news comes as a Manitoban judge rejected the request to suspend a federal law that ends the Canadian Wheat Board's marketing monopoly.

More information about the class action can be found at www.cwbclassaction.ca.