The Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association continues to lobby for changes to the voter eligibility requirements for Canadian Wheat Board director elections.

"We were happy that Henry Vos got re-elected but disappointed that some more voluntary CWB candidates were not elected," says President Kevin Bender. The other four newly elected directors are all single-desk supporters.

"The results re-inforce the urgency here, that we want to see the election rules change to make sure that those who are voting are really farmers that depend on farming for their livelihood," he says.

Voter participation was 41 percent, down from 53 percent in the 2008 CWB director election.

"I think there are farmers that were just really apathetic. They just thought 'Why vote? It's not going to change the way things turn out anyway'. I know there were some that had that attitude, but if we had large enough numbers, I think it probably would have turned out a different way," says Bender.

So where do the Wheat Growers go from here in their question to have a voluntary CWB?

"I think we want to still really encourage the government to make changes to voter list requirements. And we do have support from the Wheat Board as well, to have a minimum threshold set up so that bona fide farmers are the ones who are voting," he says. "That's probably our main objective, to get that so we can have a more realistic election."

~ Wednesday, December 15, 2010 ~