I have some questions for the leaders in charge of supply management for chickens.
But first, some background is required to understand the questions.
Nadeau Poultry Ltd., owned by Maple Lodge Farms Ltd. of Norval, Ont., has been complaining for years about competition from Westco and Olymel.
Maple Lodge's complaint is that Westco was taking away chicken it needs to keep running its Nadeau Poultry processing plant in New Brunswick and that the chicken were being processed by Olymel in Quebec, but now will be processed in a new plant in New Brunswick built in partnership by Westco and Olymel.
Having lost the political battles in New Brunswick, Maple Lodge (Nadeau) began buying chickens from Quebec farmers to supply its plant.
However, in Ontario, Maple Lodge was one of the leading members of the Association of Ontario Chicken Processors that complained loud and long about Quebec processors buying chicken from Ontario farmers, making it difficult for Maple Lodge to get enough.
This eventually led to a deal between Ontario and Quebec marketing boards and processors to stop the flow of live chickens across the Ontario-Quebec border.
It lowered the processors' costs because they no longer need to bid premiums to get chicken from farmers captive to processors in their home province, and presumably their trucking costs declined.
It wiped out millions of cumulative dollars farmers have pocketed in premiums while this inter-provincial competition was hot and heavy.
Ah, but you will have noticed that Maple Lodge, via Nadeau, is now buying chickens from Quebec farmers to keep its plant in New Brunswick supplied.
So, some questions:
1. Is the Quebec marketing board pressuring Ontario to make up for the chickens Nadeau is taking out its back door to New Brunswick?
2. Is there, as rumoured, a deal in the works between the Ontario and Quebec marketing boards that would move some Ontario quota, or production, to Quebec?
3. If so, why is the Ontario board continuing to refuse to supply chicken to CAMI International Poultry Inc. of Welland? It would be the height of hypocrisy to find quota to keep Maple Lodge (Nadeau) supplied while starving one of its competitors, CAMI International, out of business.
4.What plans do the chicken marketing board leaders have in mind to ensure that CAMI's customers for New York dressed chicken are supplied?
5. What, if anything, are the Farm Products Council of Canada and the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission doing to ensure that the chicken farmers fulfill their obligation to keep the market supplied?
6. What, if anything, are those same supervisory bodies doing to honour commitments the prime minister and provincial premiers have made to eliminate inter-provincial trade barriers?
These are questions a reporter can ask.
But they are questions that chicken farmers ought also to be asking of their leaders. It's their business that is at risk.
