The eight remaining farmer-elected directors of the Canadian Wheat Board have probably met for the last time.
A meeting Wednesday in Winnipeg was the last one scheduled before a federal government bill to reorganize the board is likely to pass.
The proposed legislation would strip the board of its western grain marketing monopoly and immediately terminate the directors.
Chairman Allen Oberg says there were no ceremonial actions taken at the meeting.
But the directors did pass a resolution stating that all of the wheat board's assets and wealth are due to efforts by farmers.
In addition to intangible value -- some say $500 million a year -- Oberg says there are hard assets such as a contingency fund, hopper cars and money spent on grain ships that haven't yet been built.
"Our major concern is that this is a government takeover of a producer organization," Oberg said. "All the wealth that has been created within the organization has been provided by farmers.
"Those assets become government assets with no thought of compensation. This is a huge issue."
Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz reacted to the meeting by suggesting farmers haven't been calling the shots at the wheat board.
"Unfortunately, actual producers have never been in control of the CWB, as clearly demonstrated by Mr. Oberg's unilateral decisions to waste farmers' time and money on such things as a baseless court case, reckless propaganda and expensive lakers," Ritz said in an email.
The board is to be in court Dec. 6 to apply for a judicial review of the minister's actions. The marketing agency claims Ritz is in breach of his statutory duty by failing to consult the board and failing to hold a vote to gauge the wishes of farmers before he introduced the legislation.
"We believe we have a very arguable case," Oberg said.
Ritz has said the federal government was given a mandate to strip the board of its monopoly when voters elected a majority government last May.
