Jimmie Lee, co-owner of CAMI International Poultry Inc. of
Welland, has given up and sold his share of the business to his partner.
Lee has been fighting for survival of the business ever
since the Ontario and Quebec chicken marketing boards signed a deal to end
cross-border trade in live chickens.
That has starved CAMI of the chickens it needs to keep
supplying the large and rapidly-increasing market it developed, mainly among
Asians in the Toronto area, for Hong Kong dressed birds – i.e. feet and heads
left on.
Lee could not be reached immediately for comment.
What’s not yet clear is whether the challenges Lee filed in
court are still active.
One sought an end to the ban on Quebec-Ontario trade in live
chickens.
The other sought an end to a federal government policy
governing supplementary import permits, an interpretation that effectively
keeps CAMI from importing chickens to meet the demand for Hong-Kong-dressed
birds.
