Advisory committee composition is challenged

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

The Hog Industry Advisory Committee (HIAC), appointed last fall to guide the transition as Ontario Pork's monopoly ended, falls outside of the regulations of the Farm Products Marketing Act, says Rob Shapiro, lawyer for Huron County Pork Producers.

Regulation 419, Section 13, of the Farm Products Marketing Act stipulates that a six-member Hog Industry Advisory Committee will offer advice to the industry. There will be a total of three meat packer representatives and Ontario Pork will name producers on the committee. The committee named last fall included James Reesor, Jim Van Nes and Allen Van Ravenswaay, who made representations to end Ontario Pork's monopoly marketing powers at hearings last summer, as well as Paul Bootsma, from the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, which supports dual marketing and Gary Pennings.

Why vary from the rules? The HIAC, as laid out in regulations, "was dysfunctional," says Geri Kamenz, who became chair of the Farm Products Marketing Commission after the committee was established.

Kamenz asserts that at an Ontario Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs Tribunal pre-hearing conference in April, Ontario Pork's counsel said there was no point in going back to the old HIAC committee.

The commission has since beefed up the committee by adding all executive members of Ontario Pork; Chair Wilma Jeffray and vice-chair Mary-Ann Hendrikx, board members Oliver Haan, Steve Illych, Beth Clark and past chair Curtiss Littlejohn. BP