I have come across a lawsuit Sweda Farms Ltd. and Best Choice Eggs filed against the federal government, trying to get answers as to why it suddenly failed to get supplementary import permits for Grade A Large Brown organic and Grade A Large Brown free-range eggs for the pre-Christmas market in 2009.
There are several surprising things revealed in this lawsuit. One is that the Export and Import Controls Bureau of the federal Department of International Trade did not give any reasons for suddenly failing to issue permits when the national egg marketing agency said it could not fill the orders.
Another is that the same bureau issued supplementary import permits to others for those same types of eggs. That, of course, meant they enjoyed a competitive advantage in the marketplace, including a chance to snatch Best Choice's customers.
When Sweda Farms, through lawyer Donald Good of Ottawa, sought reasons for the denial to grant the permits, Kathleen Funtek, director of the Trade Controls Program Division of the Export and Import Controls Bureau said basically that the Minister of International Trade can do whatever he likes. He is not bound by any policy, precedent, etc. Stockwell Day was the minister at the time, but there is no indication in any of the correspondence that he ever saw Sweda Farm's applications or complaints.
So where does the government get its advice on how to handle these types of issues?
Well, as I posted a couple of days ago, there is an advisory committee.
And are you surprised that Sweda Farms has no representatives on that committee, but its chief competitors do?
