Ontario Pork halves delegate numbers

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

by KRISTIAN PARTINGTON

The number of Ontario Pork delegates elected over the coming weeks by Ontario’s pork producers is set to drop by half as part of Ontario Pork’s governance restructuring.

These changes will be implemented as pork producers from across the province participate in 22 separate county association annual meetings.  In February the 110 new delegates will elect a board that will also be visibly trimmed from 14 down to nine directors.

Mary-Ann Hendrikx, the organization's vice chair, says the 2011 changes better reflect the ratio of producers in the province to delegates and board members at Ontario Pork.

“Back in 1995 when we put the current structure in place there were about three times as many producers as there are now,” said Hendrikx. “Really, it was getting difficult in some places to find enough representation to fill the councillors’ (now known as delegates) spots.” 

“We need to have all the views represented from across the province and we feel that by cutting the number of delegates in half we can do that,” she added.

The declining number of producers may be attributed to a growing proportion of large-scale producers filling the roles once held by many smaller operations, said Hendrikx, as well as the fact that “in the last two or three years Ontario has taken a disproportionately high share of the sow-cull program. We’ve lost more producers to that program than we might have lost had it not been offered.”

Hendrikx said Ontario Pork has been focused on restructuring the governance model for several years and the new model will allow for more equitable representation from across the province.

She anticipates some financial savings will also be realized as a result. BF