Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Tribunal rejects National Farmers Union





The appeals tribunal has ruled that the Ontario branch of the National Farmers Union has failed to meet the criteria for re-accreditation as an organization that can be funded via the Farm Business  Registration program which charges farmers $195 per year.

The decision has still not been posted on the tribunal's website, nor have decisions on re-accreditation applications filed by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario.

The NFU-Ontario failed to provide adequate audited financial statements to meet accreditation standards and the national organization, headquartered in Saskatoon, interfered with the choice of the top official in violation of another requirement.

The tribunal also ruled that the NFU-Ontario has not provided evidence that the farmers who directed their $195 Farm Business Registration fee to the NFU intended it to be a membership fee.

The tribunal has been deliberating on this issue as it applies to all three general farm organizations – the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario and the NFU – since it held public hearings last June.

It re-opened hearings with the three organizations to address the issue, consulted with AgriCorp which administers the fees and consulted Hansard’s record of debates in the provincial legislature.

It finally concluded that the registration fee could be applied to payment of a membership fee in the organizations, but wrote that the farmers must explicity indicate they intend to have their $195 fee applied to membership.

The tribunal also re-opened public hearings on the NFU application after Sean McGivern, who had been elected to head the Ontario organization, but was passed over by the national organization, wrote to the tribunal offering additional background information.

McGivern and several other directors resigned in protest. They have since launched an effort to form another general farm organization.

In its written ruling, the tribunal says it “had difficulty determining the facts . . . due to inconsistencies and deficiencies in the material and/or testimony submitted by the NFU-O.

“At times, information related to the National Farmers Union (NFU), NFU Region 3 (Ontario) and
NFU-O was so intertwined within the evidence that the relevant facts were barely
distinguishable from information about the national organization.

“Also, the Tribunal was concerned by:

 - the inability of directors to obtain key governance and management
documents;

 - objections about the process used to fill the position of Regional Coordinator
(equivalent to the position of President) of the NFU-O in 2011;

-  the lapse, since 2006, of a service agreement between the NFU-O and the National Farmers Union (NFU).

“The Act and Regulation require that NFU-O members - and only NFU-O
members - determine how they run their affairs and who will represent their interests.,” the tribunal wrote.

The auditor’s report the executive provided the tribunal includes a disclaimer about the inability to verify revenues, so the tribunal writes it “finds that the NFU-O should have developed accounting processes that ensure the auditor can conduct the audit of the financial statements and prepare the report in accordance with the standards set forth in the Handbook of the Canadian Institute of
Chartered Accountants without any exceptions."

In addition, the tribunal says “the NFU-O audited financial statements for the fiscal years ending September 30, 2008, 2009 and 2010 did not include the per cent of the applicable amounts received under paragraph 12 of subsection (1) that the organization has contributed to branches . . .”

The Tribunal says it “could not, with certainty, determine the amount nor calculate the per cent of the applicable amounts contributed to “organized” local affiliates which qualify under the Act and Regulation."

As to the move by Saskatoon to reject the election of McGivern in 2011, the tribunal says it “is inconsistent with the responsibilities that should be exercised by members of the NFU-O or electors chosen by members of the NFU-O.

‘In plain language, only NFU-O members should determine who will hold the various positions on the executive body of their organization.”

The ruling could cripple the National Farmers Union because more than 60 per cent of its revenues have been coming from Ontario.