In December 2006, Adrian Measner was fired from his position as President of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) by Federal Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl.

Two weeks before being fired, Measner was challenged by Strahl. He was told to either comply with the Conservative government’s position that the Board’s monopoly powers be dismantled, or suffer dismissal from his position. The threat soon materialized as Measner was issued his termination notice following his refusal to endorse the end of the Wheat Board’s power monopoly.

The Conservatives’ plan was to revoke the Board’s monopoly on marketing wheat and barley. This would allow farmers to choose whether to sell their grains through the Board or independently (a system known as dual marketing). The plan was criticized by Measner, along with his farmer-elected board of directors.

Following Measner’s dismissal, Prime Minister Harper announced that the government was set on following through with the plan to introduce dual marketing for wheat and barley. Proponents of the dual marketing plan advocated for the farmer’s right to choose.

A single-desk system - as opposed to dual marketing - refers to a long-existing structure in which the CWB has a monopoly on wheat and barley sales. According to Measner, discarding this system would undermine the farmer-run organization and result in lower grain prices for famers, including those who use the CWB to market their products internationally.

In an address to the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce in October 2006, two months before being fired, Measner stated that a dual marketing system would be "as wrong as it is un-Canadian" and could harm the ability of Western Canadian farmers "to deliver the world-class grain for which we are known."

That same month, the Board was faced with a “gag order” from the federal government, which was later found to be unconstitutional by the federal court.

Strahl told Board officials they were not to spend any money promoting the single-desk grain marketing system. Wheat board officials were prohibited from lobbying and were forced to remove information they had posted on the CWB website to endorse their single-desk position. The government claimed that the gag order was to save money.

In June of 2008, Judge Roger Hughes ruled that the government’s prohibition of lobbying and posting information violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and was contrary to the Wheat Board Act. The judge’s decision maintained that the intent of the gag order was in fact to silence people, and not to save money, as the government had claimed.

The Canadian government appealed the decision. The Federal Court of Appeals decided this time in the government’s favour, finding that the Wheat Board does not have the right to use funds for advocacy, and that the Board is indeed subject to the authority of government.

The President of the National Farmers Union (NFU) believed that the firing of Adrian Measner was “another in a long list” of federal decisions aimed at restructuring the Board.

The NFU has been the main defender of the Board, and has provided a list of attacks on the CWB in its struggle to survive anti-CWB legislation, including the gag order, the firing of Measner, and the introduction of a Cabinet Order in Council to remove barley from the CWB Mandate in April 2007. (The list of attacks on the CWB can be found here.)

The Wheat Board sought to strengthen opposition to the new law by conducting its own plebiscite in September 2011. Sixty-two per cent of wheat-producing respondents and 51 per cent of barley-producing respondents (of 38,261 farmers in total) wished to maintain the CWB’s single-desk marketing monopoly. The Harper government has maintained its opposition to the monopoly, however, and has targeted August 2012 as the date to fulfil its election promise of dismantling the single-desk marketing system in favour of the dual system.

In October 2011 Conservative MP David Anderson’s website hosted a video of a fictional CWB representative acting in a racist and condescending manner towards a fictional wheat farmer. National Inuit Leader Mary Simon stated that the material “is offensive to Inuit, has no place in public discussion, and certainly no place on the website of an elected Member of Parliament." Anderson later apologized and took the video down.

Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board asked the Federal Court for a Judicial Review of the federal government’s plans to repeal the Canadian Wheat Board Act without a vote, or plebiscite, from the farmers. This plebiscite is required in order to repeal the Act, according to the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board. On December 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.

Although this judicial review found in favour of the CWB the federal government has denied putting the new act on hold, as the CWB requested on December 14, 2011. CWB chair Allen Oberg said of the Harper government, “It is now breaking the law and ignoring an order of the Federal Court. This must stop. We want farmers' democratic rights to be respected and the government to stop acting as if it is above the law."

A two-day hearing, overseen by Justice Shane Perlmutter, to address an application brought to the court by eight former CWB directors occurred on January 17, 2011. They hoped to halt the new bill with an injunction until the validity of the Harper government's Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act is tested in the courts. A main topic was the ruling against Gerry Ritz on December 14. Federal lawyer Robert MacKinnon said the ruling was simply a declaration about the minister's actions, and did not invalidate the new law.

As of January 18 2012, Justice Shane Perlmutter has reserved his decision on the injunction and the single-desk monopoly system is still in place.

Adrian Measner was not alone in being targeted for raising his voices against the government's decisions and plans for the CWB. See the case of Deanna Allen.

Relevant Dates

• January 2003: Adrian Measner is appointed to his position as CEO of the CWB
• October 2006: Federal government bans the wheat board from spending money to lobby for maintaining the single-desk system
• November 2006: Measner receives a letter from Strahl giving notice of his termination
• December 2006: Measner is fired from his position and an interim CEO is appointed by the federal government
• April 2007: Cabinet order-in-council is introduced to remove barley from the CWB mandate; Bill C-46, a legislation to fast-track the removal of barley and to terminate farmer’s right to vote on removals introduced in February 2008
• July 2007: Federal Court Judge Delores finds in the CWB’s favour and rules the Harper government’s attempt to end the CWB’s monopoly on barley to be illegal
• June 2008: Federal Court Judge Roger Hughes rules that gag order violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
• June 2009: Federal Court of Appeals overturns Federal Judge Hughes’ decision, rendering the CWB voiceless in advocating for its monopoly system
• January 2010: Supreme Court of Canada dismisses the Canadian Wheat Board’s (CWB) appeal of a decision on the constitutionality of a “gag order” from the federal cabinet
• June 2011: Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board file for a Judicial Review in Federal Court to find whether the Harper government can dismantle the CWB despite the government not having held a plebiscite
• September 2011: The Canadian Wheat Board conducts a plebiscite to determine the what producers of wheat and barley want - single-desk monopoly, or dual system; farmers vote for the CWB’s single-desk system
• October 2011: Saskatchewan MP David Anderson’s website portrays a fictional CWB representative as racist and condescending towards a farmer.
• December 7, 2011: Justice Campbell of the Federal Court issues 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
• December 14, 2011: CWB directors ask courts to halt the new bill regarding grain marketing and restore farmers' right to vote
• January 17, 2012: A two-day hearing begins to address an application brought to the court to halt the anti-CWB bill by eight former CWB directors. The hearing is overseen by Justice Shane Perlmutter of Queen's Bench Court in Winnipeg.