Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal 1 Stone Road West
Tribunal d’appel de l’agriculture, de l’alimentation et des affaires rurales 1 Stone Road West
Guelph, (Ontario) N1G 4Y2 Tel: (519) 826-3433, Fax: (519) 826-4232 Email: AFRAAT@ontario.ca
Guelph (Ontario) N1G 4Y2 Tél.: (519) 826-3433, Téléc.: (519) 826-4232 Email: AFRAAT@ontario.ca
AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS APPEAL TRIBUNAL
APPEAL:
Chicken Farmers of Ontario v Farm Products Marketing Commission
Chicken Farmers of Ontario v FPMC [Procedural Order] 2000 ONAFRAAT 24
STATUTE:
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Act
HEARING:
September 8 and 15, 2000
DATE OF DECISION:
September 25, 2000
2000-24
NEUTRAL CITATION:
2000 ONAFRAAT 24
Chicken Farmers of Ontario v Farm Products Marketing Commission [Procedural Order]
IN THE MATTER OF the Farm Products Marketing Act and of Section 16 of the Ministry of Agriculture And Food And Rural Affairs Act;
AND IN THE MATTER OF an Appeal to the Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) by the Chicken Farmers of Ontario (“CFO”) from the December 1st, 1999 decision of the Farm Products Marketing Commission (the “Commission”) following a hearing under Section 3(1)(a) of the Farm Products Marketing Act for the purpose of allocating live chicken to Ontario Processors:
PROCEDURAL ORDER
The CFO appeal comes to the Tribunal from a decision of the Commission pursuant to subsection 16(1) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Act. Subsection 16(1) provides as follows:
- (1) Subject to subsection (4), if a person is aggrieved by an order, direction, policy or decision of the Commission or Director, made under the Farm Products Marketing Act or the Milk Act, that person may appeal to the Tribunal by filing with the Tribunal and sending to the Commission or Director written notice of the appeal.
The decision of the Commission was issued on December 1st, 1999 and was made after a several day hearing under clause 3(1)(a) of the Farm Products Marketing Act. The purpose of the hearing was to determine a process for allocating live chicken to Ontario processors.
Clause 3(1)(a) of the Farm Products Marketing Act provides as follows:
- (1) The Commission may,
(a) subject to the regulations, investigate, adjust or otherwise settle any dispute relating to the marketing of a regulated product between producers and persons engaged in marketing or processing the regulated product;
In the course of a pre-hearing conference held on June 9th, 2000, CFO raised three grounds upon which the December 1st, 1999 decision of the Commission should be set aside and sent back to the Commission for a re-hearing. The Tribunal decided to have these questions argued as a preliminary motion. The CFO motion was argued on September 8th and September 15th, 2000. That motion was dismissed on September 15th for reasons then summarized for those present. A formal decision reflecting that summary was issued on September 25th, 2000.
Following the dismissal of the CFO preliminary motion, arrangements were made to get on with the hearing on its merits.
To that end there will be a further pre-hearing conference on November 21st, 2000 commencing at 9:30 in the morning at the Tribunal Boardroom, 1 Stone Road, West, in Guelph.
On that day parties will be identified, issues will be identified and, to the extent possible, refined, and a hearing date will be set.
As indicated in the Procedural Order arising from the June 9th pre-hearing conference, parties to CFO’s preliminary jurisdictional motion will not necessarily be parties to the hearing of the substantive issues.
Some involved at the June 9th pre-hearing conference indicated an intention to file their own appeals of the December 1st, 1999 decision of the Commission. At that time, the Tribunal concluded that the filing of any such appeals should be deferred pending the outcome of the CFO preliminary motion. In the circumstances of the dismissal of the CFO preliminary motion, any additional appeals of the Commission’s decision must now be filed with the Tribunal by
4:00 o’clock on Monday, November 6th, 2000. Any such additional appeals are be served on those listed at the top of this decision.
At the November 21st, 2000 pre-hearing conference, submissions will be invited and decisions made as to whether any such additional appeals should be consolidated to be heard with the CFO appeal.
In the same vein, if there are any appeals under subsection 16(2) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Act, from the handling by CFO of the allocation of live chicken to Ontario processors, those appeals must be filed with the Tribunal by 4:00 o’clock on Monday, November 6th, 2000 and are to be served in the same manner above described in connection with appeals under subsection 16(1).
Subsection 16(2) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Act is as follows:
16(2) Subject to subsections (4) and (5), if a person is aggrieved by an order, direction, policy, decision or regulations made under the Farm Products Marketing
Act by a local board or under the Milk Act by a marketing board, that person may appeal to the Tribunal by filing with the Tribunal and sending to the local board or marketing board written notice of the appeal.
Again, at the November 21st, 2000 pre-hearing conference, submissions will be invited and decisions made as to whether any such appeals under subsection 16(2) should be consolidated to be heard with the CFO appeal of the Commission’s decision.
Counsel for CFO has been asked to prepare and circulate a draft Procedural Order for discussion purposes on November 21st. This draft Procedural Order should include a list of issues, a list of parties and the order in which parties would proceed; it should also include a timetable for the exchange of documents, including witness statements, and of supplementary material in reply. Needless to say, this assistance by the CFO to the Tribunal and its hearing process should not be taken as limiting or otherwise fettering CFO’s submissions as to the contents of the Order.
It will assist the Tribunal if those intending to be at the November 21st pre-hearing conference would advise the Tribunal in advance of the issues they intend to raise and any challenges they intend to make concerning party status. It would be preferable if the Tribunal were to receive this advice by November 6th and it would be helpful if that advice was circulated to those listed at the top of this Procedural Order.
At the pre-hearing conference on November 21st, parties should be in a position to indicate the number of witnesses they intend to call and the length of the time they anticipate will be required for their case.
As to all foregoing, the Tribunal so Orders.
This panel of the Tribunal may be spoken to if there are procedural difficulties in connection with this decision by making arrangements for the purpose through the office of the Tribunal’s General Manager.
Dated at London this 25th day of September, 2000.