On reprieves

I'm seldom as glad to be wrong as I am when it comes to the Federal Court's decision striking down the Cons' attempt to abolish the Canadian Wheat Board's single-desk status over barley by regulation. While I'd worried before before that the language of the Canadian Wheat Board Act on its face seemed to leave open the possibility of change by regulation alone, Hansen J.'s decision makes plenty of sense when those words are put in context.

Of course, the Cons don't figure to take the ruling lying down...and an appeal could always go the wrong way. But for now at least, the Cons' attempt to undermine the Wheat Board have been stopped in its tracks. And as long as the decision is in the hands of the House of Commons, the odds of the Wheat Board surviving the Cons' attacks are looking very strong.