Friday, May 2, 2014

Kamenz term unusually long

Most provincial appointments are for three years, but Gerald Kamenz has a 10-year term as chairman of the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Council.

His term extends to the end of 2018.

So far he his track record is poor.

He has refused requests for a full-scale public inquiry into the egg industry even after it became public that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's random-sample testing found instances where up to 15 per cent of eggs sold as Grade A failed to meet Grade A standards, where records from an Ottawa-area court case indicate the province's largest egg-grading company made a price-fixing deal and where there have been document-backed allegations of widespread cheating, fraud and corruption.

He has done nothing visible to force the chicken industry to keep the market supplied, even though that's clearly an obligation under supply management. Both the kosher and Hong Kong dressed markets are short of chicken. In fact, the entire province is short of chicken of all kinds.

He has condoned a trading ban on live chickens between Ontario and Quebec, apparently in open defiance of an Agreement on Internal Trade signed by all of the provincial premiers.

He allowed the chicken industry to over-charge the public because the marketing board used outdated feed-conversion ratios. Only when large-scale processors, who raise their own chickens, complained did his commission notice and step in to order adjustments.

He has apparently done nothing to check whether the prices for feed, entered in cost-of-production pricing formulas for chickens, eggs and turkeys, are accurate. During his term, prices for Ontario poultry feeds have risen more than any other livestock or pet feeds in Ontario and faster than poultry feeds in the United States.

Here, according to the government website, is the full roster of commission members, their terms of appointment and their pay.



1.CHAIR (PART-TIME)KAMENZ, GERALD10-DEC-2008 - 09-DEC-2018$627 PER DIEMSPENCERVILLE
2.VICE-CHAIR (PART-TIME)WHALE, DEBORAH10-MAR-2004 - 19-JUN-2015$491 PER DIEMALMA
3.ICE-CHAIR (PART-TIME)CLARK, JAMES20-JUN-2007 - 25-FEB-2016$491 PER DIEMGLENCOE
4.VICE-CHAIR (PART-TIME)BUCHANAN, ELMER20-JUN-2007 - 24-JUN-2018$491 PER DIEMHAVELOCK
5.MEMBER (PART-TIME)RICHARDSON, THOMAS G.23-MAR-2005 - 22-MAR-2015$398 PER DIEMOTTAWA
6.MEMBER (PART-TIME)HOBBS, VALERIE17-DEC-2013 - 16-DEC-2015$398 PER DIEMWOODSTOCK
7.MEMBER (PART-TIME)CREWS, BETTE JEAN18-APR-2012 - 17-APR-2017$398 PER DIEMTRENTON