A veteran farmer phoned me today to tell me there is a court record outlining who really runs marketing boards in this province.
It's not the Ontario minister of agriculture and food.
It's not the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission.
The boards run themselves.
The farmer said it's in the court transcripts of a court case involving Georgian Bay milk producers who were producing milk for export in the belief that they did not need quota for export production, nor could the milk marketing board stop them.
They lost.
And during the trial, the lawyer for the government said the milk board tells the minister of agriculture (Helen Johns at that time) what to do, and she tells the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission what to do.
I am not in the least surprised.
How else can one explain the high-handed abuse of powers by the Ontario chicken and egg marketing boards?
Ah, but we now have a new agriculture minister who is also the premier.
There are more rural voters who hold no quota than those who do.
Will Kathleen Wynne have enough courage to insist that the chicken board supply CAMI International Poultry Inc. with 600,000 kilograms of chicken it took when it signed a no-trade deal with Quebec, and will she order a public inquiry into shenanigans at the egg board?
We shall see.
And if she fails to act? Well, maybe the Liberals will continue to denied electoral victories in rural ridings.
