Monday, July 13, 2020

AAFC claims no records exist

Although there was a public hearing in Kitchener, the federal agriculture department says no records exist.

In response to a request under Access to Information for “. . . the outcome of a public hearing the Canada Agriculture Review Tribunal held into a complaint filed by Golden Produce Ltd. of Ontario," the department says it cannot find any records.

“A thorough search across the department has been completed and no records were found,” wrote an Access-to-Information office official in an e-mail.

At the hearing, the owner and plant manager for Golden Produce Ltd. argued that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was not fair in declaring the plant failed to meet standards. They said the plant was undergoing an expansion that would address all of the issues the CFIA inspectors raised.

The business at that site in Mount Forest has since changed its name.

There is no record of the hearing on the tribunal’s website. In fact, there are no records posted of any tribunal decisions since the end of 2018.