Oxford farmer slapped with huge fine, jail time

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The justice of the peace ‘said my men were good men and he believed everything they said and then he found us guilty’ – hog farmer Eric Van Boekel

Comments

Why is the cities allowed to pump or let it overflow in the rivers and nothing get done . i don,t like to see any big manure spills animals or humans ,but they all should be looked at the same way. The farmers are a minority and easy prey to go after,not like the big cities.

Accidents and mistakes can happen and then too fine a person and sentence him too jail for this is stupid. What happened in Walkerton is criminal or on the streets of london drugies shoot or beat or rob innocent people and get a small slap on the wrist or time in re-hab .Now is the time for our farm organizations and Ontario pork to do something

We don't know all the facts in this case so its hard to judge. Seems a little harsh though. What happened in Walkerton was very serious, people died and more will live with problems the rest of their lives, yet the people responsible walked away with hardly a slap on the wrist. Somethings not right here.

This weekend I visited a large hog farm operation in SW Ontario. I was absolutely amazed at the precision and care throughout the operation. The farmer exercised diligence and professionalism through all stages of his operation. I was deeply moved by his sense of responsibility to his animals and the environment. In fact, upon leaving, I realized that farmers are in fact our environmental leaders and have been for decades--it is the consumer whose behaviours ought to be scrutinized. I hope to see some of our environmentalists, scholars and critics open their eyes to the role modeling aspects of the agricultural industry and begin to defend these hard-working men and women instead of focusing on finding flaws in their efforts. We ALL must learn to live and work TOGETHER on this earth--just as farmers live in symbiosis with the land and animals they farm. HC:)

Haha, you fell for the scam.

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