Discussions

PM accused of 'reign of terror'  
But Tories deny they ordered CWB canning  
 
Tue Feb 5 2008  
 
By Mia Rabson  
 
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government were accused of everything from totalitarianism to undermining free speech Monday, in the wake of the firing of Canadian Wheat Board vice-president Deanna Allen.  
 
Allen's dismissal came up repeatedly during question period in the House of Commons as opposition parties held it up as the latest example of the government firing a civil servant who wasn't toeing the Conservative party line.  
 
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz spent much of question period Monday denying their government had anything to do with Allen's firing.  
 
She was let go Friday by interim CWB President Greg Arason following a closed-door meeting of the CWB's board of directors.  
 
Harper said the wheat board is an arm's length agency and that Allen was "an employee of the wheat board who was fired by the wheat board".  
 
But opposition parties scoffed at that suggestion, accusing Harper or Ritz of ordering the CWB to dismiss Allen because she has been an outspoken critic of the plan to end the CWB monopoly.  
 
"Why does this prime minister fire civil servants for doing their jobs?" asked Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion.  
 
He suggested Allen is following in the footsteps of Linda Keen, the former president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission who was fired by the Harper government last month after she refused to cave in to government demands to lift a safety restriction closing down the Chalk River nuclear reactor.  
 
That closure led to a shortage of medical isotopes needed for cancer and cardiac treatments and tests.  
 
In 2006, the Tories fired former CWB head Adrian Measner after he spoke out about their plan to do away with the single desk system for selling prairie wheat and barley.  
 
Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter called Allen's firing "another example of this government's reign of terror" and accused the Tories of subverting democracy and undermining the freedom of speech.  
 
And Manitoba NDP MP Pat Martin implied the Tories are taking a totalitarian approach when he said "you could almost hear the jackboots at the corner of Portage and Main" when the Tories "stormed the wheat board" and fired Allen.  
 
"Her only crime was to defend that great prairie institution," said Martin, who added he hopes Allen "sues their asses off".  
 
Allen said Friday she was dismissed without cause from the CWB, which has its head offices in Winnipeg. She did not respond to a request for an interview Monday.  
 
She has already consulted a lawyer.  
 
Ritz lambasted the opposition for making what he called absurd allegations and mocked the idea this was causing great public outrage.  
 
"(As for the) huge public outcry," Ritz said in question period, "I have responded to both letters."  
 
In a written statement released by his office later in the day, Ritz said the only employee of the wheat board hired or fired by the government is the CEO and called the opposition's allegations about Allen absurd.  
 
The Allen dismissal is the latest hot spot on the wheat board issue, which erupted in 2006 when the Tories began to make good on a campaign promise to introduce marketing choice.  
 
The issue has divided politicians and farmers alike. A plebiscite held by the federal government last year found almost two-thirds of prairie barley farmers wanted at least the option of selling their barley to someone other than the wheat board.  
 
Ritz said that proves what farmers want, adding his government will listen.  
 
But that plebiscite was criticized as being rigged with questions intended to generate the response the government wanted.  
 
A non-binding referendum held by the Manitoba government suggested more than 60 per cent of farmers in this province want to maintain the single desk system for barley and almost 70 per cent said so for wheat.  
 
mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca