TORONTO – The Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board held two closed-door sessions before and after its annual meeting here recently.
Only quota holders were allowed in for the discussions which included briefings about scandals emerging from court documents in Superior Court in London and Durham Region in Oshawa.
Quota holders also got a package of information from people interested in getting this information to them and asking them to petition the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission to conduct an inquiry.
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| Egg board chair Carolynne Griffith |
Former egg producer Melisssa Snyder is urging egg farmers to press for reforms at the egg board and for a commission inquiry because she says that even if some of the allegations in the court documents prove true, the integrity of Ontario’s egg industry is at risk.
“It’s time for the egg producers to take control of their future. If they don’t, the levies they pay are bound to go up to pay for all the legal costs of the lawsuits that the board chooses to fight, even though the general manager says these lawsuits aren’t going to cost anything.” (see last paragraph below)
Snyder notes that the egg board was presented with an opportunity to be dropped from lawsuits being pressed by lawyer Donald Good of Ottawa on behalf of Svante Lind of Best Choice Eggs of Blackstock.
What she does not reveal is that Lind wants the dismissal of board general manager Harry Pelissero as part of that deal.
The egg board has countered in a letter to all quota holders that it “will continue to vigorously defend itself and its staff.”
Meanwhile, lawyers for L.H. Gray and Son Ltd. have until April 5 to show a judge in Oshawa a list of documents provided by whistleblower Norman Bourdeau that they want returned to them. The information is under the protection of a court-appointed supervisor pending the outcome of legal moves to include, and counter-moves to exclude, the evidence.
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| Egg board GM Harry Pelissero |
In a court hearing in Oshawa in March, Gray’s lawyers persuaded a judge to lift an Anton Piller action by Good to get Bourdeau’s files which are from Gray when he was head of information technology for the oompany.
The judge did lift the Anton Piller action, but also set the April 5 deadline to determine what documentation will be allowed into the court case. The decision makes little difference to the key aim of Gray’s lawyers to hide the information, but it does tag Lind with the costs the lawyers for Gray, Burnbrae Farms Ltd. and the Egg Farmers of Ontario is dealing with the Anton Piller motion.
Gray’s lawyers claim about $85,000, Burnbrae’s about $58,000 and the egg board about $10,000. Those claims will likely be challenged by Lind.
