Recount ordered for CWB election
By LINDSAY SCHMIDT of the Weyburn Review
The Canadian Wheat Board announced Monday morning that Terry Hanson of Fillmore would represent District 8 on the first-ever board of directors. Late Monday afternoon, a serious flaw in the tabulation system was detected and a recount has been ordered.
Since the announcement of the first-ever CWB director's election, many producers have questioned the election process. This most recent tabulation error may have damaged the credibility of the CWB and KPMG, the accounting firm, contracted as election coordinator.
"I'm really appalled that something like this could happen. I suspected there would be some kind of arrangement made so the government could fix this vote but I didn't think it would be so blatant," said Bob Shaw, a Beaubier farmer in favour of a voluntary market.
When Shaw heard the announcement Monday that Terry Hanson, a single-desk supporter from Fillmore, had been elected as the director for District 8 he felt the count was suspicious.
"I voted for Rod Flaman first and Art Mainil second. Then I left the rest blank. I did a little phoning around my home and I found 30 people that voted the same way. I saw on TV last night that Terry Hanson was first, Art Mainil was second and Rod Flaman was third. When Flaman was eliminated all of his votes went to Hanson to make him the winner.
"That absolutely stinks. Those votes should have gone to Mainil," he said.
KPMG released a statement in the early-morning hours of Tuesday and were not available for further comment. The Winnipeg company ordered a recount of ballots in due to a flaw in the tabulation system.
"We are taking the necessary steps to first identify the problem, correct it, and submit the tabulation program to an independent audit review by a recognized information systems specialist. Only after the independent auditor is satisified that the program is completely accurate will a full recount of all ballots be held," said Craig Fossay of KPMG. No timeline as to when the recount would take place was stated.
Art Mainil, the unofficial second choice of voters in District 8, is outraged with KPMG's approach to handling their mistake.
"You could call Winnipeg but it won't do any good. They won't answer their phones. And that says it all. They aren't answering their phone for two days and there are plenty of questions to be answered," Mainil said.
At the current count, Terry Hanson was placed in first place, Mainil in second and Rod Flaman in third. Both Flaman and Mainil believe in a voluntary market.
"Between the two of us we polled 3602 votes. Terry Hanson polled 3564 votes. Some people have suggested instead of doing a recount a vote should be held between the No. 1, Terry Hanson, and the No. 2, myself. I think the answer would be very clear. Farmers want choice," Mainil said.
Shaw simply could not understand why such a complicated voting system as the preferential ballot was adopted for the CWB directors' election. In District 8, eleven candidates were placed on the ballot and voters were asked to rank them in order of preference. Voters had the choice to rank as many of the candidates as they wished. If they did not rank all the candidates, the box beside those not voted for were to be left blank.
"I marked two candidates and I left the rest blank. There was no way to nullify the other candidates. You were simply supposed to leave the box blank. There are too many ifs, buts and maybes to this vote. Who knows if those ballots were changed after they came in? There is no way of knowing," Shaw said.
Mainil agrees that the election process left too much open for tampering.
"These ballots were sent to Winnipeg on Nov. 20 and then sat there not opened for two weeks. They could have been tampered with. They could have waited to see who did not vote and then cast a ballot for that producer however they wanted it to go. I'm not saying that this did happen. I'm saying that there was the opportunity. In any other election you go in, present your identification, cast your vote, hand it to the elections officer and it's put in the ballot box. It's an immediate reaction and there is no room for tampering. Why they did it this way I don't know," Mainil said.
The CWB election process only reaffirmed Shaw's beliefs
"I think this vote shows a system that is not a democratic system. We don't have the freedom to vote for who we want. I'm appalled that this is what had to take place to get the people on the board that the government wanted on the board."
Art Walde of Kindersley, one of the scrutineers of the tabulation, thought it was unfortunate that the computer error occurred but did not see any problems with the vote count.
"I sat through the procedure and was impressed with the work of KPMG. I'm upset that something went wrong but I really can't believe anyone did this on purpose. There was simply some irregularities in the computer program and that is going to be audited," Walde said.
Walde said the recount will take place as soon as the computer program is audited. The scrutineers will be involved in the recount as well as KPMG and the auditing independent company.
The unofficial results placed three voluntary market supporters on the board of directors and seven single-desk supporters. Voluntary supporters placed second in five other districts. The recount of votes may place more of those supporters on the board.
It seems many felt the election would not be executed fairly and chose not to return their ballot. A total of 156,684 voters' packages were sent to actual producers and interested parties in the 10 districts with only 66,617 returned. The response represents only 43 per cent of the voters overall and 48 per cent of actual producers.
During the entire election process, producers voiced concerns about the voters' list, the government appointees and the mail-in ballot system. There have been claims that the voters' list included people who are dead. The five appointed directors were a sore spot for many producers who claimed that the government appointees would diminsh the power of producers on the board.
Ralph Goodale, minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board, assured the appointees would not decrease the power of the farmers.
"The appointed directors will enjoy no special status, all the directors will be equal at the table with producers in a two-thirds majority," the minister said.
The government-appointed directors include interim president/CEO Greg Arason, previous CEO of Manitoba Pool elevators, who will serve a one-year full-time term. The other four directors will serve a three-year part-time term and include Betty-Ann Heggie, senior vice-president of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan; David Hilton, former senior vice-president of international banking for the Bank of Nova Scotia; Ross Keith, CEO of Nicor Group and a former partner in a Regina law firm; and James Stanford, president/CEO of Petro Canada.
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