CFFO responds to Tribunal decision

Thursday, November 8, 2012

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

The Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario is acting fast in order to get its electoral house in order following its failure to obtain accreditation from the Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal.

In a decision released Wednesday, the Tribunal denied the organization accreditation because it did not meet legislative requirements, mostly in connection with how it processed memberships.

Four district meetings were held on Friday alone, and a total of 13 are scheduled before the organization’s annual convention next Wednesday. A minimum of 12 district meetings must be held to meet the requirements of the Act.

“The decision invalidated our district board and delegates because they were elected by people other than our members,” says Nathan Stevens, acting general manager of the CFFO. All of the districts that will send delegates to the annual convention are having membership meetings and voting for their boards by members under the new definition. “We offer a membership; they accept, and we accept them,” Stevens says.

District boards and delegates to the convention must be re-established “in order to have legitimate resolutions or elections next week, in terms of making an application based on our 2012 year.”

“We contacted our members by email and by phone,” Stevens says, describing that procedure as “the only way” to fulfill the requirements of the legislation.  

Meetings are being held by conference call. “There is no requirement in our bylaw that membership meetings be held in a physical location,” Stevens says.

Stevens says Agriculture Minister Ted McMeekin has been invited to the convention. “He has not confirmed yet that he will be there.“

Earlier today, in an emailed statement, McMeekin noted the Tribunal’s decision would “cause significant hardship for the CFFO and the important role it plays in Ontario’s agricultural community.”

Stevens says the CFFO is looking at all of its options and awaiting Tribunal decisions for the other two farm groups. “That tells us if we will be working as a group or we will be working alone.”

Stevens doesn’t see how either the Ontario Federation of Agriculture or National Farmers Union–Ontario can be re-accredited if CFFO was not.

“To my knowledge they did not have elections to re-establish their boards, nor did they have elections in 2011 based on the new definition, which is what we got caught on.

“I don’t know how they pass when we didn’t. But I don’t want to speculate too much.” BF