Small flock chicken producers have filed an application with
the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal – finally.
It’s been months since the newly-formed Practical Farmers of
Ontario organization, headed by Sean McGivern, said it would take the issue to
the appeal tribunal.
The application is coming now from Glenn Black of Providence
Bay, Manitoulin Island and his Small Flock Owners of Canada.
He says it has taken him four months of bureaucratic
run-arounds to get this far, including appearances before the Chicken Farmers
of Ontario marketing board and discussions with the Ontario Farm Products
Marketing Commission.
The commission referred him to the tribunal, even though the
commission clearly has jurisdiction over the chicken marketing board and its
policies.
It’s a policy change Black and Practical Farmers seek,
specifically an increase from 300 to 2,000 in the number of chickens a farmer
can raise without requiring marketing board quota.
Usually matters of policy are not dealt with by the
tribunal, but by the commission and the marketing board.
It 's just another example of commission chairman Geri Kamenz refusing to deal with tough issues. Premier and Agriculture Minister Kathleen Wynne ought to give him official retirement rather than letting him suck up taxpayer funds for on-the-job retirement.
