Imports of spent fowl have been soaring so rapidly that
Glenn Black of Providence Bay has calculated that if they continue on this
pace, they will displace all Canadian chicken production by June 30, 2016.
He also comments that importers are able to get through with
loads that are only 51 per cent spent fowl. The balance could be roasters.
The processors are importing spent fowl because Canada does
not include them on the list of chicken and chicken products that are charged
sky-high tariffs to protect supply management.
Black also offers a solution which involves developing tests
to distinguish between spent fowl and broilers and roasters that Canada’s
quota-holding chicken producers market.
It also depends on the Canadian Border Services personnel
applying the test to imports.
Black has been a sharp critic of the Ontario and national
chicken marketing boards and Canada’s main processors, labeling them the
Chicken Mafia.
He now says they have 27 months to wake up and reform their “tyranny”
before their supply-management system collapses.
He has been a leading voice in the campaign to persuade the
Ontario chicken board to allow those without quota to raise 2,000 birds per
year, up from the current limit of 300.
So far the response from the marketing boards and processors
has been to lobby the federal government to close the “loophole” that allows
spent fowl to be imported with only a tiny duty charged.
Black's chart tracks imports of spent fowl and projects the trend to June, 2016.
