While the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission is
investigating the Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board, it has decided the
inquiry won’t delve into the basic issues raised by the two parties who
requested the inquiry.
Svante Lind of Best Choice Eggs and Verified Eggs and Norman
Bourdeau, former information-technology officer for L.H. Gray and Son Ltd.,
both put egg grading at the heart of their requests for an inquiry.
They allege that Gray and Burnbrae Farms Ltd., which buy
about 90 per cent of the eggs marketing board members produce, cheated on
grading to include eggs that are cracked and/or dirty and do not meet Grade A
standards.
That, they charge, inflates the price the public pays for
eggs and the revenues of the marketing board which is financed by levies on
only Grade A eggs.
But the commission inquiry will not investigate the grading
of eggs.
It has fluffed that off on the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency and food-safety officials in the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and
Food. Food safety is an issue if cracked eggs, washed in manure-polluted water,
are then sold to an unsuspecting public that includes some who eat raw eggs.
And the inquiry will not be conducted by the commissioners,
who are appointed to oversee marketing boards, nor will it be public. It will
be conducted by some yet-to-be-named person.
The inquiry will be narrowly focused on the administration
and governance of the Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board.
The fix is in, folks. This inquiry will be a waste of time
and money because the commission, the egg board, Burnbrae Farms Ltd. and L.H.
Gray and Sons Ltd. don’t want it to dig up and display any wrongdoing.
