Tribunal makes farmers jump through hoops

Ontario’s three general farm organizations are jumping through hoops to answer the tribunal’s technical issues that has kept them from being re-accredited under the Farm Registration and Farm Organizations Funding Act, 1993.

All three are appearing before the Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal this week, applying once again for accreditation after they were denied in decisions the tribunal handed down on May 22.

Memberships is one challenge.

The Act says a general farm organization needs at least 250 members to qualify for accreditation, but because of the May 22 decision, memberships garnered through the fees collected annually by AgriCorp don’t count.

The National Farmers Union responded to this challenge by having members apply for a refund of the $220.35 they paid via Agricore, then asking Agricore to apply that as membership in the Ontario branch of the National Farmers Union.

That was done to comply with the tribunal’s decision that there needs to be “explicit agreement” that farmers want to apply the $195 annual farm business registration fee, plus Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) to membership in the specified general farm organization.

In the case of the NFU-Ontario, members may join either via specific instructions to AgriCore or by sending a cheque to Saskatoon to join the National Farmers Union. All members of the national organization who live in Ontario automatically become NFU-Ontario members, explained Ann Slater, the top elected official – called co-ordinator – in Ontario.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture and the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario are expected to outline similar action they have taken to establish minimum memberships.

If and when they gain accreditation, the three organizations intend to negotiate a different agreement with AgriCore that will address this issue of “explicit agreement” to use the fee as membership in the chosen organization.


Tribunal member Mary Field quizzed Slater closely on whether the national office in Saskatoon might over-rule the election of an Ontario leader, as it did with Sean McGivern.


Slater indicated  that's unlikely to happen, but also said "never say never".


That clearly left Field dissatisfied. One of the requirements is that the Ontario association stand on its own to represent its Ontario members. Earlier in the hearing Field asked a lot of questions about how policy positions are decided; Slater indicated the Ontario and national positions are always the same.

Another issue that all three have addressed via radical changes is meeting the requirement that at least 25 per cent of membership fees be in charge of locals.

The NFU has done this by sending cash to its 13 locals. In the past, all three organizations counted the value of services they supplied the locals towards meeting the 25 per cent minimum.

Neil Currie said the Ontario Federation of Agriculture will outline a similar response when it appears at the tribunal on Friday.

Nathan Stevens of the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario said it is sending $10 per member to its locals and is signing agreements with each of them indicating they agree to buy about $25 worth of services from the head office at Guelph. Those agreements will be renewed each year, Stevens said.

Nicholas Richter, a lawyer from Hamilton, chaired the tribunal panel that included Field of Port Dover and Jane Sadler-Richards of Ailsa Craig. They questioned Slater and office administrator Sarah Bakker closely on issues such as how policies are formed, elections held and distinctions over membership in locals, the provincial NFU and the national organization.

Slater said the three are regarded as one and trying to make distinctions is “like splitting hairs.”

She said NFU members value the clout and solidarity they gain by working as a national organization with one common set of policies.

Slater said Ontario farmers get lots of opportunities and influence in forming those policies. 

Field said it would help if the Ontario branch would distinguish itself with cover-page logos, etc., when it is lobbying in Ontario.

She noted that a brief to a legislature committee dealing with the provincial budget prominently displays the NFU logo on the cover and said politicians might wonder if this really represents Ontario members’ views.

Slater assured her that the brief does represent Ontario members’ views.

Field also had a lot of questions about why there are two annual general meetings held at the same time and place with almost exactly the same people participating. Slater and Bakker explained that at the Region Three meeting of the National Farmers Union, all Ontario NFU members have a vote. And the NFU-Ontario meeting, only delegates have a vote.

The locals choose three delegates each and if they have more than 50 members, one more delegate per each additional 25 members.

The NFU-Ontario changed its bylaws governing membership and elections during its annual general meeting in March to bring it in line with the concerns the tribunal panel raised during re-accreditation hearings that began in June, 2011, and continued in August.