The Canadian Wheat Board announced the results of the first half of its director elections Wednesday, just days after a court ruling that criticized the board for leaving some producers off voters lists.
The winning candidates announced Wednesday will represent the board's five even-numbered districts.
Jim Chatenay of Red Deer, Alta., was acclaimed in District 2; Ken Ritter of Kindersley was elected in District 4; Ian McCreary of Bladworth will represent District 6; Rod Flaman from Edenwold was chosen in District 8; and Bill Toews of Kane, Man., was elected in District 10.
"The voters and candidates have demonstrated tremendous interest in the . . . elections over the past four months," said election co-ordinator Peter Eckersley in a news release.
"The people who know grain farming the best -- the producers -- have had their voice heard and have elected the individuals whom they believe will best represent their interests."
The vote was conducted using a mail-in preferential voting system that allowed producers to rank candidates in their order of preference.
Eckersley said the overall ballot response was 32.7 per cent.
There are a total of 15 directors on the wheat board -- 10 elected by farmers in Western Canada, and the other five appointed by the federal government.
Last week board officials said they would improve the way the elections are conducted after a computer glitch resulted in some names being omitted from the voter list.
Art Mainil, a farmer who opposes the board's monopoly on wheat and barley exports, sought a court injunction earlier this month alleging election irregularities. A federal judge ruled against Mainil's bid to delay the announcement of the results, but left the door open for a judicial review of the board's election process.
Eckersley said two problems occurred during the election -- about 200 producers were assigned to vote in a wrong district, and 792 producers were left off the original voters list -- but both problems were solved before the votes were counted.
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers. Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections; the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.