British Columbia says it won’t sign a new national
production agreement unless Ontario changes the way it prices chicken.
Under the new allocation agreement, Ontario will gain a
larger share of production increases than it’s existing percentage of the
national pie.
But British Columbia says that under a new pricing system
imposed on the Ontario chicken board by the Ontario Farm Products Marketing
Commission, prices come down when production goes up.
That, says British Columbia’s chicken board chairman Robin
Smith, means B.C. chicken prices will be influenced by Ontario.
Most provinces, including B.C., follow the pricing lead of
Ontario.
Manitoba and Saskatchewan chicken boards are also appealing
the new national chicken allocation agreement.
Ontario has complained since the beginning of supply
management that it has not been allowed to produce enough chicken to meet local
demand.
That demand includes some processors who have national
markets for their production – eg. to supply nuggets for McDonald’s Chicken
McNuggets.
David Janzen, chairman of the Canadian Chicken Marketing
Agency and a producer at Chilliwack, B.C., said the timing of Ontario’s pricing
change “couldn’t have been worse.”
He made the comment to reporter David Schmidt of Country
Life in B.C. newspaper.
Chicken farmers are proving once again that they do not deserve the trust the public and politicians have placed in them to run supply management.
