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WINNIPEG -- A defiant Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says his government will push ahead with ending the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly, despite the federal court ruling that doing so without a mandate from farmers is against the law.

In a written decision issued Wednesday, Federal Court Justice Douglas Campbell issued a declaration stating Ritz broke the law when he tabled a bill proposing to end the CWB's monopoly without first conducting a vote among farmers.

The CWB and its supporters had requested the declaration.

"The applicants each request a declaration that the minister's conduct is an affront to the rule of law. For the reasons that follow, I have no hesitation in granting this request," Campbell wrote in his 25-page decision. "(The) most important effect is that the minister will be held accountable for his disregard for the rule of law."

Ritz, however, said the ruling will neither stop nor delay the government's plan to end the CWB monopoly by next August.

"We will never reconsider Western wheat and barley farmers' right to market their own grain," he said. "This declaration will have no effect on continuing to move forward. We'll proclaim (Bill C-18) into law before the end of the year."

Ritz said he "fundamentally disagrees" with the ruling and will appeal it.

The law Ritz is deemed to have broken is Sec. 47.1 of the Canadian Wheat Board Act, which mandates a vote from farmers in order to add or remove a grain from the CWB's marketing monopoly. The CWB and its supporters argued Ritz broke that law when he introduced Bill C-18 in October without holding the vote. Ritz argued -- and still maintains -- that the vote mandate doesn't apply to killing the monopoly altogether, but Campbell disagreed.

Campbell's ruling does not have the power to compel Ritz to pull or amend Bill C-18; it only declares that he broke the existing law.

The CWB Act does prescribe penalties for violation of any of its sections, which include a fine of up to $5,000, up to two years in prison, or both.

However, prosecuting Ritz for the violation would require an entirely separate court process, which was not part of the recent Federal Court case.

Campbell also granted costs to the CWB, meaning Ottawa is on the hook for an estimated $100,000 to cover the CWB's legal fees.