The moratorium - i.e. ban - on new inter-provincial contracts that the Ontario and Quebec chicken-marketing boards have been holding in place for more than a year has been quashed by the Quebec Superior Court.
The marketing boards are expected to appeal the decision.
In the meantime, it’s possible that processors in either or both provinces could begin signing new contracts with chicken farmers in the other province.
It’s estimated that 10 per cent of chicken production in each of the two provinces is moving to processors in the other province, many of the birds moving in trucks that pass each other going in opposite directions along the Queen Elizabeth Way in the Niagara area.
The chicken boards imposed a "moratorium" on any addition to the existing volume of out-of-province contracts while they negotiated a more permanent solution.
Then they reached agreement in principle on a deal to end inter-provincial movement of live birds, but have yet to implement it.
They have been waiting for the Régis des Marchés Agricole et Alimentaires du Quebec (a provincial government body that regulates marketing boards) to decide whether it will allow the Quebec chicken marketing board to implement the deal.
The Régis has, in turn, been waiting for the court decision.
And Ontario has been waiting for the outcomes in Quebec before it seeks regulations to implement the agreement.
The Ontario Independent Poultry Processors Association has eight members who have indicated they will oppose any deal that makes it more difficult for them to access increased chicken supplies.
Any one of them could use the Quebec Superior Court decision as a precedent to quash any new marketing board deal to restrain inter-provincial trade.
