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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • APRIL 2017


Saputo seeks damages over tainted milk Two Fraser Valley dairies identified in statement of claim


by PETER MITHAM


CHILLIWACK – Montreal- based Saputo Products Canada GP is asking BC Supreme Court to back up its refusal to pay nearly $100,000 to the BC Milk Marketing Board.


A statement of claim filed in BC Supreme Court on February 6 seeks a declaration that the processing giant was right to deduct a total of $91,620 from payments to the milk marketing board. It did so following two incidents in which Saputo claims it lost milk as a result of deliveries from Chilliwack Cattle Sales Ltd. in August 2013 and


Cedarwal Farms Ltd. in February 2015. Saputo’s lawyers claim that


Saputo received 17,784 litres of raw milk from Chilliwack Cattle Sales in August 2013. The processor combined the shipment with other milk, only to discover later that the Chilliwack shipment had a high bacteria count. The claim alleges that inadequate cooling equipment at the farm was responsible for the contamination, which ruined milk and cream worth more than $65,000. In the second instance,


Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials singled out a shipment of more than


120,029 litres of milk from Cedar Valley Farms – Cedarwal Farms’ organic farm – for extra testing. CFIA officials thought tainted cattle feed may have led to the milk containing a carcinogen. While the shipment ultimately proved of no risk to human health, processing delays allegedly cost Saputo more than $26,000.


Saputo deducted its losses


from amounts owing to the BC Milk Marketing Board, which represents member producers in business dealings with processors. Saputo’s refusal to pay up


prompted the marketing board to petition BC Supreme


Court in June 2015 for an order compelling Saputo to pay the outstanding sums as the regulations governing milk sales in the province require. The petition has yet to receive a hearing. Meanwhile, the lawsuit is


Saputo’s salvo against supply management, which it complains forces it to deal with the marketing board and eliminates its right to choose the producers from whom it buys milk. “The board is the


monopolistic distributor of milk on behalf of all producers in the province of British Columbia,” its statement claims. “The board deprives Saputo of having any choice with respect to producers from whom they buy.”


BE READY.


When a video of workers abusing animals at Chilliwack Cattle Sales surfaced in 2014, just 10 months after Saputo claims to have received the contaminated milk, Saputo


said it wouldn’t accept the farm’s milk. “Saputo is required by law


to purchase milk from the provincial milk marketing boards. While we do not own the farms, we care deeply about the way the milk we sell is produced,” it said in a statement at the time. “We will not accept milk from the BC Milk Marketing Board supplied by this farm until we are fully satisfied that strict animal welfare practices are in place.” Vicki Crites, policy and communication manager with the BC Milk Marketing Board, said the safety and quality of milk is not in question. However, she declined to discuss details of Saputo’s action with Country Life in BC as the matter is before the courts. “Although we cannot get into the details at this time, we look forward to the matter being resolved in the near future,” she said.


Water, not wells Re: Well licensing deadline extended, February 2017,


page 1, by David Schmidt There are so many things wrong with this article. First of all there is no licensing of wells. Licensing is for the use of a Crown resource: water. Application fees


Letters


WHEN IT COMES TO PHOTOCOPY PLANTS OUR PLANTERS CAN’T BE REPLICATED.


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planters by visiting your


you mention in the article are based on volume of water applied for


and are variable dependant on the purpose. Registering a well is free and can be done online.


There is no requirement to do this but is an advantage to the well owner as their interest in the land and specifically would be considered when other individuals in the area apply for a water license. Otherwise no one knows that they are even using groundwater. With this article, and not knowing your facts, you are continuing to spread incorrect information. M.L. (Marlon) Dosch, CSP, RFT#0816


FrontCounter BC, Natural Resource Specialist Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Thompson-Okanagan Region, Kamloops


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