Katie DeBlock

Several landowners appealed the 2022 Engineer's Report for the Cranberry Creek Municipal Drain, arguing that the land use factors (LUFs) were incorrect, the Pump and Dyke System was improperly included, and their properties were assessed too high.

The Tribunal found that the LUFs should have followed the Tribunal's 2020 Decision, which assigned lower factors to forested lands and provincially significant wetlands.

The Tribunal also found that the Pump and Dyke System had been abandoned and its inclusion constituted reconstruction, which falls outside the scope of a section 76 report.

Due to these and other significant errors in land use classification, the Tribunal set aside the 2022 Report.

The Appellants, dairy farmers, appealed a decision by the Director of Regulatory Compliance imposing a level 4 penalty for high somatic cell counts in their milk.

The Appellants argued that several milk samples were rendered unsuitable for testing due to circumstances outside their control, and requested that favourable test results be imputed for those missing samples to reduce their demerit percentage below the penalty threshold.

The Tribunal found that the available test results were representative of the milk offered for sale and that it lacked the authority under the Raw Milk Quality Program Policies to impute test results.

The appeal was dismissed.

The Holland Marsh Drainage System Joint Municipal Service Board applied under section 76(1) of the Drainage Act for permission to procure an engineer's report to vary the 1990 Schedule of Assessment.

The Board cited changes in conditions due to the development and hardening of agricultural land.

No assessed persons objected to the application.

The Tribunal granted the requested permission.

The appellants requested a review of an April 2020 Tribunal decision that dismissed their appeal regarding the Egg Farmers of Ontario's pullet leasing policies.

The appellants alleged ten material errors of fact and law in the original decision, primarily concerning the Tribunal's findings on lease fees, market demand, and whether the policies penalized new entrants.

The Vice-Chair found no material errors of fact or law in the original decision and denied the request for review.