Tribunal backs hold on inter-provincial chicken trade - for now

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

By PATRICIA GROTENHUIS

A Stevensville chicken farmer is taking the Chicken Farmers of Ontario’s decision to place a moratorium on inter-provincial chicken marketing to the Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Tribunal.

“I’m hoping that the moratorium is either voluntarily lifted by the board or the Tribunal will rescind the regulation,” says Henry Bos. He anticipates a formal hearing will get underway in May.  The Tribunal does not have a date set at this time.

Mary Fearon, Chicken Farmers’ manager of communications, says the supply-managed board placed a moratorium on new inter-provincial contracts. “The industry and supervisory board determined the levels of inter-provincial movement were growing too large for the industry,” she explains.

Under the chicken quota system, farmers can sell their birds either provincially or inter-provincially. There is no allocation system in place to control how much is marketed in either way.

According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ontario produced 330,372,050 kilograms of chicken in 2009 and sent 28,639,339 kg was sent to Quebec. (That same year, Quebec produced 277,626,276 kg  and shipped 29,464,809 kg to Ontario). All quantities reflect eviscerated weight. Ontario producers did not send chicken to any other provinces.

Ontario's 2009 shipments were up 26 per cent over 2007. 

Farmers who had a Quebec contract before the moratorium was put in place can continue shipping. Bos did not have a contract, and is appealing because he feels the moratorium interferes with inter-provincial chicken movement and producers’ freedom to choose a processor.

Bos says about a fifth of his birds normally go to Quebec processors.

He says when he made his appeal, he thought there would be an automatic stay on the moratorium, allowing farmers to secure contracts with Quebec processors again. 

However, the board challenged the assumption and earlier this month, John O’Kane, the Tribunal’s vice-chair, ruled that "a stay in the matter does not result in the automatic suspension of validly enacted legislation.” The moratorium would remain in place until the tribunal reaches a final decision about Bos' appeal, he wrote in his decision.

Fearon says the moratorium will maintain a level playing field by keeping the inter-provincial movement of chicken between Ontario and Quebec at current amounts while a long-term solution is decided. She adds that the board is working with producers and processors from both Ontario and Quebec to find a solution.

Bos hopes the Tribunal will reach a decision by the end of the summer, and that the moratorium will be lifted by the fall.

In the meantime, he has until April 30 to submit an outline of the issues in his appeal to the Tribunal; Chicken Farmers will have until May 15 to respond. BF