For immediate release
June 10, 2008

Over 2500 Ontario Pigs Wasted
Pork used for pet food instead of feeding those in need

 

QUEEN’S PARK – Today Ernie Hardeman, Oxford MPP and PC Critic for Agriculture and Food, questioned the Minister of Agriculture and Food on the pork that could have gone to food banks if Ontario had provided funding to process pigs from the federal cull program when requested by stakeholders.

“When questioned a spokesperson in your office said Ontario Independent Meat Processors, Ontario Pork and Ontario Association of Food Banks approached you about processing these pigs to feed those in need as soon as the program was announced,” said Hardeman. “That would be in February. Why did you wait until the Toronto Star starting asking questions to do anything?”

The federal government program pays farmers to reduce herd size with the goal of increasing market prices.

A spokesperson from Minister Dombrowsky’s office said: “They [Ontario Independent Meat Processors, Ontario Pork and the Ontario Food Banks Association] came to us with a request when the federal program was first announced about whether or not we could do a program that would get this protein into food banks.”

Other provinces responded quickly with funding to process the pork from their share of the federal program. On April 23 the province of Manitoba announced $500,000 to process approximately 5,000 surplus hogs for distribution to food banks.

“The province of Alberta put in $330,000, the province of Saskatchewan put in $440,000, and that was when the program started,” said Hardeman. “In the time it took you to organize, to get this plan in place, to announce $100,000, 2,500 surplus pigs were slaughtered that could have gone to the people in need in the food banks and food kitchens.”

The Ontario government did not announce funding to process the pork until May 31, 2008. By that time applications for round one were completed and many of the pigs had already been slaughtered.

“Minister, if other provinces could respond quickly enough to process all the pigs for the food banks, why couldn’t you?” asked Hardeman.

 

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For more information, contact:

Ernie Hardeman, MPP Oxford

(416) 325-1239