Ottawa – The appeal tribunal hearing that was to be held
here Jan. 17 to deal with concerns raised by LaPlante Poultry Ltd. of Sarsfield has been adjourned.
There is no indication about whether or when the appeal
might proceed.
LaPlante runs a poultry-processing facility that processes a
variety of birds, including ducks and chickens from Quebec.
According to people familiar with the business, LaPlante is
seeking chicken-processing quota from the Chicken Farmers of Ontario marketing
board. Robert LaPlante has not returned many telephone calls seeking comments about his appeal.
The Ontario chicken board allocates birds raised by its members to
processing plants, mainly because demand is greater than supply, there have
been premiums offered to gain more birds and the existence of widespread premiums
undermines the integrity of supply management.
In fact, the chairman of the Ontario Farm Products Marketing
Commission, the government-appointed body to supervise marketing boards, has
warned chicken producers that the persistence of premiums cannot be tolerated.
LaPlante is only one of a number of small-scale
chicken-processing companies that have been frustrated by their inability to
buy enough chickens to meet their customers’ demand.
The processors began buying in Quebec which prompted Quebec processors
to begin buying in Ontario until about 10 per cent of the birds from each
province are now going to the other province. The marketing boards in the two provinces
reached agreement to temporarily cap that inter-provincial movement while they
looked for more complete solutions.
A Quebec court has since ruled that the cap must be removed.
The two provincial marketing boards have a tentative deal to stop the inter-provincial movement of chickens, but now they are waiting for the Quebec
government’s supervisory body to decide whether the deal they have struck can be
implemented. The issue there is also enough chickens to satisfy the demand of
tiny processing businesses.
If Quebec grants approval, Ontario is poised to soon follow.
