The deal Ontario and Quebec chicken marketing boards signed
to end cross-border trade is in danger of falling apart.
Informed sources indicate that Quebec is asking for
permission to increase production enough to offset the birds it is losing to
Nadeau Poultry Ltd. of New Brunswick, a company wholly owned by Maple Lodge
Farms Ltd. of Norval, Ont.
The Quebec demand probably means Ontario would have to make
up the difference to Quebec, and that’s not likely to go down easily at the
Ontario chicken board, with Ontario processors and with the Ontario government.
On the other hand, Ontario’s chicken processors are almost
desperately keen to end inter-provincial trade because it not only increases
transportation costs, but also involves the payment of premiums to
out-of-province producers.
