January 6, 1999

Hon. Noble Villeneuve
Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs
11th Floor, 77 Grenville St.
Toronto, ON
N5S 1B3

VIA FACSIMILE: (416) 326-3083

Dear Minister:

As you know, the problems racing the pork industry are causing hardship throughout the province, and the situation is only getting worse. The price a farmer receives for their product is dropping daily.

Part of the problem is a backlog of hogs to be slaughtered. The small and medium sized plants are working to alleviate some of this oversupply, but their abilities are limited.

Many of these plants are experiencing ever-shrinking profit margins. If they try to increase their capacity, the plants face a $40 per hour user fee for provincial inspectors to oversee this additional capacity. Obviously, this creates a disincentive to process additional pigs.

One way to address this would be for your Ministry to suspend the collection of this detrimental user fee. This would encourage increased processing and help to alleviate some of the backlog that currently exists in the system. Obviously, this would not solve the entire problem, but it would provide a degree of relief for the businesses and individuals that are directly affected.

Sincerely,

Pat Hoy. MPP
Essex-Kent

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