Court rejects quota policy appeal

Friday, April 16, 2010

by SUSAN MANN

The Ontario Court of Appeal has refused a request by three former dairy farmers to hear an appeal of a case involving the Dairy Farmers of Ontario previous quota policy on transfer assessments.

Peter Gould, general manager of Dairy Farmers of Ontario, says the court didn’t provide reasons for its decision to turn down the appeal of Bill Denby, Keith and Ron Jarvis and Dale McFeeters. The court’s decision was handed down April 6.

“I think we would have been very surprised had the leave (to appeal) been granted,” Gould says. “We’re obviously relieved that it’s close to closure.”

Bill Denby, Dale McFeeters and Keith and Ron Jarvis couldn’t be reached for comment.
 
Dairy Farmers took to the courts when the four farmers were granted an exemption from its former transfer assessment policy by the Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal in 2008. The provincial supply-managed commodity organization had asked the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to review the decision. In October 2009 court set aside the tribunal’s decision.

Dairy Farmers established the policy in November 2006. It was in effect until July 2009. It applied a 15 per cent transfer assessment on quota sold on the exchange.

As part of the Tribunal’s decision, Dairy Farmers was instructed to return the transfer assessments to the farmers. For Denby it was $153,180, for McFeeters it was $139,268 and for the Jarvises it was $511,305.52. The farmers’ lawyer held the money in trust until the outcome of the appeal.

Gould says the money has now been returned to Dairy Farmers.

The ruling by the Superior Court and the decision by the Appeal Court to not hear the appeal “are positive indications for” Dairy Farmers, Gould says, noting the organization has been defending board decisions at various levels of court for almost 10 years. “We haven’t had a break.”

Gould says he doesn’t have a precise dollar figure on how much it has cost the organization for the court cases but “it’s a huge drain on the energy and resources of Dairy Farmers of Ontario.”

The Superior Court ruled the matter could be returned to the Tribunal for another hearing to determine if the former dairy farmers should be granted an exemption to the transfer assessment policy. Gould says the court didn’t automatically send it back to the Tribunal. It’s up to the farmers to request a new hearing before the Tribunal.

The next step for Dairy Farmers is to wait and see what the former dairy farmers will do. BF