Multiple consolidated appeals challenged the provincial system for allocating live chicken to Ontario processors under supply management.
The Tribunal conducted a de novo industry-wide policy hearing and substantially restructured the allocation regime by requiring confidential processor requests, use of aggregate processor demand within the national growth cap, stakeholder meetings where the cap is exceeded or national approval is refused, and a hybrid processor allocation model combining historic base with equal-percentage cuts to growth requests.
The Tribunal also imposed a 100% slaughter rule with penalties, created a capped new entrant program, excluded wholesale price from the live price formula, directed the development of a feed-chick-producer margin pricing formula and revised pricing grid, and ordered amendment of the export policy to remove the producer participation threshold.
The appeals resulted in detailed mandatory directions to the local board and the Commission on supply determination, processor allocation, pricing, category compliance, new entrants, and exports.
