Gray loses second bid to dismiss lawsuit

Alison Webster, lawyer for L.H. Gray and Son Ltd., has lost her second bid to get the courts to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Sweda Farms Ltd. and its owner, Svante Lind and his Best Choice Eggs egg-grading business.

Webster lost when Justice Carol J. Brown of the Superior Court of Ontario ruled a year ago that there’s a lot of information contained in sealed electronic records from the Gray egg-grading business and a lot of expert witnesses’ testimony to be considered, so it would be premature to dismiss the lawsuit.

Lind is suing Gray, Burnbrae Farms Ltd. and the Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board, alleging they conspired to drive him out of the egg-grading business. He has since sold his egg-grading operation.

Webster appealed and after she appealed, Burnbrae Farms Ltd. was successful in presuading Justice D.L. Corbett to dismiss the lawsuit against it.

Webster argued that because the two egg-grading companies, which together account for about 90 per cent of the eggs marketed in Ontario, were jointly sued, along with the egg marketing board, the charges against Gray should also be dismissed.

Justice Frances Kiteley disagreed, saying that Justice Brown had good reason for ruling that dismissal is premature.

She also noted that Burnbrae’s motion for dismissal differs because Justice Corbett ruled that the electronic files apply to Gray, not Burnbrae. The two cases are different, she wrote.

Corbett said Burnbrae might have broken the Competition Act and might have a poor reputation, but those things do not have a direct bearing on the lawsuit.

Corbett’s decision is under appeal.

All of this leaves the lawsuit with a significant issue yet to be decided – how much, if any, information from the electronic files will be admitted as evidence in the lawsuit.

The files are a copy of the electronic records of L.H. Gray and Son Ltd., taken by former information technology staffer Norman Bourdeau after he alleges that Bill Gray, president of the company, ordered him to destroy the records in the wake of the filing of the lawsuit.

Bourdeau made a copy of the files and made some of the information available to Lind and also circulated some information to egg producers, to police and to the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission. He asked for the commission to launch a public inquiry.

Webster countered and obtained a court order sealing all of the information in the lawsuits. The electronic files are in court custody with a lawyer in Kitchener.

On behalf of Gray, she has consistently denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

Bourdeau had lawsuits for wrongful dismissal and was involved in defending himself against lawsuits Webster filed on behalf of Gray. All of those have somewhat mysteriously disappeared. Neither Webster nor Bourdeau will say why, but Bourdeau has also withdrawn his request for a public inquiry.

Instead of a public inquiry, also demanded by Lind's lawyers, the commission appointed an individual to examine governance at the egg board. He has handed in an interim report, but has asked for more time to continue investigating.

He might be behind recent revelations that the commission used the Access-to-Information process to obtain the results of a nation-wide survey of egg grading during 2010 and 2011. The survey indicates that some retail-ready egg packaging contained more than 10 per cent cracked eggs, that more than 10 per cent had between five and 10 per cent cracks and only two had no cracks. Some also had dirty eggs.

From what has become public so far, it’s clear that Sweda believes that both Burnbrae and Gray cheated on egg grading and that they conspired with each other and the egg board to drive Best Choice out of the egg-grading business. 

Larmer to head RAWF

 Paul Larmer, chief executive of Semex Alliance, is the new president and chairman of the board of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.

He takes over from John M. Dunlap, Jr. 

The Royal started in 1922 and was once the undisputed championship place to compete for top honours for a broad range of agricultural products, including beef and dairy cattle, hogs, sheep, poultry and crops.

It also became the nation’s leading horse show and competition.

While other venues have gained prominence in beef competitions, The Royal is still Canada’s premier show for dairy cattle, drawing visitors from around the world, and its horse show draws an entirely different crowd, mainly from the ranks of Toronto's wealthy business and society leaders.

Larmer has spent a lifetime in dairy genetics, starting on the dairy farm where he was born and raised. He headed Gencor before being chosen for the top job at Semex Alliance.

He begins his two-year term while the Royal is undergoing a three-year rejuvenation process.

Horse slaughter ban bid defeated

A bill that would have curbed horse slaughter has been defeated in the House of Commons.

Horse slaughter is still not happening in the United States because of political opposition.

The vote was 155 to 102 on the bill presented by NDP MP Alex Atamanenko of British Columbia.

He sought amendments to the federal Meat Inspection Act and Safe Food for Canadians Act to ban inter-provincial shipment of horses for slaughter.

That would have also stopped imports from the United States.

The bill would have exempted horses raised “primarily for human consumption and… accompanied by a medical record that contains its standardized description and a complete lifetime record, in chronological order, of the medical treatments it has received.”

Black challenges tribunal to be brave

Glenn Black, president of Small Flockers of Canada, challenged the three lawyers forming a panel hearing his appeal against the Chicken Farmers of Ontario marketing board to be brave and consider his broad-ranging complaints about the supply-management system.

Glenn Black

Black said the federal legislation, passed 43 years ago, was flawed, that the law and regulations Ontario subsequently enacted added complexity and “didn’t repair or avoid the latent flaws.”

As a result, what he calls the Chicken Mafia now controls the chicken industry in ways that are not fair for consumers, for small-flock chicken farmers and, in the long term, in the best interests of quota-holding chicken farmers.

He challenged the tribunal to stick its neck out to take his appeal that details these any many other criticisms he has leveled about the chicken industry.

He said he has no doubt that if the tribunal does that, its decision will begin a round of court appeals, but argued that will be the beginning of a major overhaul of chicken supply management, getting it “back on course” to benefit the industry and the public.

Lawyer Geoff Spurr, lawyer for the Chicken Farmers of Ontario marketing board, spent more than two hours detailing, point by point, why the tribunal ought to toss out the appeal before it even gets to a public hearing.

Spurr argued that most of the issues Black has raised are outside of the jurisdiction of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food Appeal Tribunal.

Some are matters for the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission, some for the Chicken Farmers of Canada national agency and others for the provincial legislature or the federal Parliament, Spurr said.

He argued that the damages Black is seeking ought to be presented as a class-action lawsuit. They are heard in the Superior Court of Ontario.

Black countered that the tribunal has the right to consider this appeal as part of its responsibilities under the federal charter of Rights and Freedoms.

One of the points he raised is that 75 per cent of the pre-school children of Nunavut go without any food some days and 2.9 million Canadians are in a state of food insecurity.

He argued that Canadian governments have a responsibility to ensure people can access a nutritional diet of their choice and that the management of the chicken industry has put prices beyond the reach of too many people.

He said allowing small-flock owners the right to increase annual production from the current limit of 300 birds to 2,000 a year would result in more affordable and locally-grown chicken for Canadians and these small-flock producers could be limited to no more than 10 per cent of the market.

Under the current supply-management system, approximately 1,400 quota holders have 99.6 per cent market share in Ontario, he said.

Spurr said the nub of the appeal ought to be the 300-bird exemption from having to own quota to produce chicken and said the tribunal ought to reject even that on the basis that more than a year has elapsed since the policy was adopted.

Michelle Ireland, representing the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission, also said the appeal ought to be limited to the 300 vs. 2,000-bird exemption, but she added Black’s appeal to enable small flock owners a say in chicken-board policy.

Spurr pointed to definitions in legislation and regulations to argue that only quota holders have voting and other marketing-board rights.

He also noted that there was no organization to speak for small flock owners when the marketing board established the 300-bird maximum for exemption from quota. 

He said that limit was set in 2007 in consultation with the hatcheries and brokers who marketed chicks to small-flock owners.

John O'Kane, chairman of the tribunal panel, said the tribunal will do its best to have a written decision within 30 days.

CAMI lawsuits settled

The lawsuits CAMI International Poultry Inc. of Welland filed when it was left short of chicken to meet demand for Hong Kong dressed chicken (feet and heads left on) have been settled out of court.

The terms of the settlements are confidential, according to lawyers for CAMI and the company’s current owner, Joseph Wong.

Former principal Jimmie Lee sold to Wong, who was his silent partner in the business.

There are indications, gathered from two independent sources who asked not to be quoted, that members of the Association of Ontario Chicken Producers have provided enough plant supply quota to prompt CAMI to drop its lawsuits.

One lawsuit challenged the ban on trading live chicken between Ontario and Quebec. That means the chicken industry avoids a challenge based on an agreement premiers reached several years ago on freedom for internal trade.

According to a court decision posted on the internet, CAMI was unable to furnish a copy of that agreement on internal trade, so the judge said it either had to produce the document or lose the case.

It’s not clear whether CAMI ever did find and furnish the document.

The other lawsuit sought to upset an agreement reached by the federal trade department and the Chicken Farmers of Canada, the national agency for supply management.

Under that agreement, when a company files an application for a supplementary import permit, the federal trade department asks the national chicken agency if it can find Canadian-produced chicken to meet the applicant’s requirements.

Under that system, the federal trade department has been accepting any live or processed chicken that could meet market demand.

Lee argued that plain-vanilla chicken would not satisfy his market demand because he needed to have birds with feet and heads left on.

That issue also remains unresolved because that lawsuit has been dropped.

Canadian wheat quality at risk

Canada’s reputation for high-quality bread-making hard red spring wheat is under threat, according to a report by Allan Dawson of the Manitoba Cooperator.

He interviewed Dave Hatcher, a research scientist with the Canadian Grain commission’s Grain research Laboratory, and learned that customers complained about poor-quality wheats from the 2012 harvest.

Hatcher said there were fewer complaints about 2013 wheat.

He said weather may have been a factor, but another worrisome factor is widespread planting of some new varieties that have only marginal bread-making quality.

Hatcher said consistency is a huge factor in wheat marketing.

The Canadian Grain Commission is responsible for ensuring that every export shipment is up to snuff.

Hatcher said a quality test that was dropped for budget reasons has been brought back. It’s run on strains put forward for registration.

He told Dawson that “2012, from a customer point of view, they were very unhappy. It came as a bit of a shock them too.”

Trans-Pacific trade talks on this week

Negotiators are meeting this week in Singapore, trying to advance trade deals in the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Their political bosses, ministers of trade or heads of state, are due to attend next week.

Reuters news agency says a final deal is unlikely to come out of this set of meetings.

The negotiators have been waiting for the United States and Japan to come to an agreement on key issues – agriculture and autos – and earlier this month Japanese news media reported that a deal has been struck.

It would feature a major decline in Japanese tariffs on beef and pork, but over an extended 20-year period.

Canada’s farmers have a lot at stake in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, mainly gains for beef, pork, grains and oilseeds producers, but increased import competition for dairy and poultry farmers.

Whatever gains are made, Canadians are certain to face keen competition from the U.S., Australia and New Zealand for agriculture markets.