Guelph – Anne Slater and Sarah Bakker faced a thorough
grilling by the Appeal Tribunal here today in the continuation of a hearing
that began in July to consider whether the Ontario branch of the National
Farmers Union qualifies for continued financing under stable funding.
Nicholas Richter, who chaired the panel for the Ontario
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Ministry’s Appeal Tribunal, zeroed in on
the relationship between the National Farmers Union, which is headquartered in
Saskatoon, and the Ontario branch, NFU-O.
He pushed so hard that the lawyer the NFU-O hired to help
present its case objected strenuously, lecturing the tribunal to stick with its
mandate.
Richter countered that the tribunal has the right to seek
information and basically wants to know how independent the Ontario
organization is in both policy and finances.
The day-long testy hearing began with an immediate clash as
lawyer Sean Bawden of Ottawa asked that about 40 documents the NFU-O recently
filed with the tribunal be kept confidential and much of the hearing be held
“in camera” – i.e. without any reporters or members of the public attending.
Richter resisted and pressed Bawden to define his concerns.
Eventually they reached agreement that parts of three documents will be kept
secret.
They are the salary and contract terms for the NFU-O’s only
employee, Sarah Bakker, who lives in Stratford, and the numbers of an NFU-O
credit card, bank accounts and credit union account.
Later they sparred over Richter’s request for minutes of
NFU-O board meetings which are held by telephone conference call every second
Thursday.
Richter was trying to get at a requirement that the NFU-O
adopt all policies of the National Farmers Union.
Slater, who is the elected head of the NFU-O, insisted that
it controls its budgets and policies and that it hires the National Farmers
Union to provide some services, such as research, maintaining a data bank and
providing publications to members.
She repeatedly testified that everything the National
Farmers Union does that influences Ontario is under the supervision of the
NFU-O’s board of directors, called the Regional Council.
She likened the relationship to that between the Ontario
Federation of Agriculture and the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.
She provided documents outlining a service contract with the
National Farmers Union and said it’s now reviewed annually because Ontario
members want to know they are getting full value.
Besides the contract, there is an agreement which includes a
clause that all NFU policies become NFU-O policies. Slater responded that the
Ontario board of directors decides the priorities it will assign to pursuing
those policies and said all actions are based solely on Ontario board decisions
such as whether to lobby the Ontario government, when and how.
When tribunal member Jane Sadler Richards opened her
questioning by outlining all of the documents she wanted to review, Bawden
objected and said he would advise Slater and Bakker to not answer any of them.
Bawden said the National Farmers Union bylaws and policies
are irrevelevant to re-accreditation of the NFU-O. Richter countered that the
tribunal has the right to seek the information and if the NFU-O refuses to
answer, that refusal puts the organization at risk of an adverse tribunal
decision.
Another issue that brought intense scrutiny is associate
membership, an issue that also figured prominently in the hearings that led to
re-accreditation for the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and the Christian
Farmers Federation of Ontario.
Slater and Bakker testified that only the National Farmers
Union has associate members and the $65 membership fee goes entirely to the
national organization in Saskatoon; none comes back to Ontario, nor do the NFU
associates have any status with NFU-O such as a right to vote or attend
meetings.
Slater said the associate members in Ontario are valued as
supporters of the NFU and are provided some services, such as publications and
information on current issues.
Every chair in the tribunal hearing room was filled as
farmers from across the province attended.
Richter lectured them to be quiet after there were a few
“hear! hear!” comments in support of a statement from Bawden and Richter
ordered a large yellow sign lowered. It proclaimed “I am a Huron County Farmer; NFU-O represents ME and 138 Huron farmers”.
There were also a number of supportive signs posted outside
the tribunal boardroom office, visible to anyone coming through that set of
doors to the head office of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural
Affairs and a few other Ontario ministry offices.
