Exhibit 1-A
News release vindictive
Suggestive, anonymous letter angers CWB
By Richard Kamchen
An anonymous news release last week about the assault of a
Saskatchewan man drew the ire of the Canadian Wheat Board, which felt it
was being implicated in the attack.
The unsigned news release revealed that Ken Dillen, a
director with the Regina-based Prairie Centre Policy Institute, was
assaulted November 19 outside of the Melita Hotel.
The release began by mentioning Dillen's involvement with
the wheat board.
"A former MLA, he (Dillen) has been actively involved
in investigating and publishing information regarding the CWB monopoly for
several years," the release said.
"Ken was reviewing some of the stacks of documents he
had received from the Access to Information Commissioner. Some of
these documents implicate very powerful people and would be damaging to
the CWB."
The release explained Dillen was attacked with a
"sharp, heavy object" which nearly killed him, and that after
being found and sent to hospital in Regina, he was in a coma for two days.
The release added there was no theft and that the RCMP was not treating
the incident as a criminal investigation.
The Prairie Centre in its own news released confirmed
Dillen suffered "serious personal injuries" from an attack on
November 19. The release noted Dillen was recovering from his
injuries but likely would not be able to return to his duties at the
centre "for the foreseeable future."
The RCMP would not release many details of the incident.
"We are conducting an investigation, but we are not
releasing any names as to who is involved in this investigation,"
said Mike Anderson a sergeant with the RCMP detachment in Virden.
"Our members responded to a report of an unresponsive
male parked in a vehicle in Melita on the 205h of November. Our
members attended and transported a 65-year old man from Saskatchewan with
no life threatening injuries to the Melita hospital.
"From there, the man was transferred to the Regina
General Hospital, where he's still listed in stable condition. And
we're still conducting our investigation into the incident," Anderson
said last week.
He would not confirm whether or not the victim was Dillen.
Pallister behind release
The Manitoba Co-operator discovered the anonymous release was written by
Jim Pallister, outspoken critic of the CWB and member of the Prairie
Centre. He admitted to writing the news release and that most of
what he wrote was second- or third-based information.
"I just put together some of those discussion and
facts that are circulating. There didn't seem to be anybody else
willing to pick up a pen and put it together."
In an interview, Pallister said Dillen found, among other
documents, minutes from a meeting where the wheat board encouraged customs
officials to prosecute farmers who attempted to illegally export wheat.
The CWB and officials from Ralph Goodale's office "organized these
persecution behind the scenes," he said.
Pallister dodged questions about why he did not put his
name on the release. Only the names and numbers of the Prairie
Centre, the Virden RCMP detachment and Norm Calhoun were at the bottom of
the release. (Pallister quoted Calhoun in his release, using words Calhoun
wrote in a chat room discussion on the Agri-ville.com web site.)
Pallister also denied he was suggesting Dillen's research
into the CWB had anything to do with the assault.
"That's not the impression it's trying to make.
It's just describing what he was doing and wheat he does for a living.
And that (the case) wasn't solved."
The release was faxed to media sources simply to raise the
issue publicly as the RCMP did not seem to be pursing the case with enough
vigor, Pallister said.
"It's to try and get the public to encourage the RCMP
to find out what happened an to try and get to the bottom of it."
The wheat board, however, perceived Pallister was making a
connection between the CWB and the assault, and blasted him for not using
his name on the document.
"I have a hard time believing anything Mr. Pallister
says in this regard, because if he did not have the courage to actually
sign his name to the news release, then perhaps he actually did intend to
make that connection," said CWB spokeswoman Deanna Allen.
The wheat board will not address with Pallister his
release, which she called a "salacious piece of information.
"Mr. Pallister is a marginal player in this issue.
We don't engage in conversations with people who don't have the courage to
stand behind their statements," Allen said. "... We hope
that Mr. Dillen recovers from whatever ails him, but we deny any
involvement in this and certainly given Mr. Pallister's cowardly act, he
has more explaining to do than we do."
Allen said the wheat board would not legally pursue the
potentially libelous statements of the release.
"Anyone who reads this will see if for the
desperation that's behind it. I look at it and I shake my head and
hope that they find some way to cure this paranoia that they've got, and
Mr. Pallister in particular."
Anderson said he has seen the release, but would not
comment on it, beyond saying it would not affect the RCMP's investigation.
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