Dear Editor:
In last week's Regina Leader Post a member of the Viterra Board of Directors claims "property rights are at the heart of our enterprise system." If that is really the case, he should be terrified of Stephen Harper and Gerry Ritz's method of breaking the Canadian Wheat Board.
All rights and liberties are entirely dependent on the rule of law. If everybody, including the Crown, in this case Parliament, does not follow the rule of law, everything, including property is up for grabs by the biggest bully.
Canadian law specified certain steps that had to be followed to break the Wheat Board. Rather than change the law, or repeal it as they could have done, Harper and Ritz deliberately chose to break the law.
It is clear their intent was to re-establish a practice dead for almost 800 years where the Crown was above the law. In exercising what amounts to a Royal Prerogative to seize assets of our farmer run Wheat Board? Specifically almost 2000 rail hopper cars, the building in Winnipeg, the Lakers and the contingency fund of over 200 million were all paid for or created by farmers.
Prime Minister Harper and his ministers obviously want to take us back to a time when royalty ruled and commoners bowed before them.
And they are acting more like royalty already. In those not so good old days commoners who committed crimes might receive the Royal Prerogative of Mercy if the king liked them. Prime Minister Harper recently boasted about his use of Royal Prerogative to pardon some criminals who broke laws he apparently did not like any more than he respected the law about how to change the Canadian Wheat Board. This is a very bad precedent with long term implications. If Harper gets away with any of this, Canadians should get used to living in the twelfth century where might made right!
Kyle Korneychuk
Pelly, Sask
