December 23, 2011 - The Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear an appeal by Nadeau Maple Lodge in its long legal battle with the Olymel/Groupe Westco Sunnymel project in New Brunswick.
Westco issued a release Thursday saying the Nadeau will now "be obliged to lay down its arms and accept Westco's business decision to slaughter its own live chickens in a partnership with Olymel l.p., a decision made nearly 4 years ago."
"I am happy to see that all the courts are unanimous in deciding in favour of Westco. I am especially pleased to see that we have finally reached the end of this legal battle, which was initiated by Nadeau three years ago," stated Westco president and CEO Thomas Soucy. "All our efforts will now be focused on completing our major slaughterhouse project in Clair and creating a large number of stable jobs in the region."
According to the release, construction of the slaughterhouse is going ahead on schedule and workers will start their jobs toward the end of next autumn.
"Above all we want to encourage the local economy in our area, promote the growth of the poultry industry in the province and help people in the area find quality jobs," Soucy added.
Nadeau's general manager, Yves Landry, today stated that the decision, although disappointing, will not deter the company from continuing its efforts to compel the New Brunswick government to bring about a fair solution to the instability that exists in the New Brunswick chicken industry.
"The two issues are entirely separate issues," Landry said in a release. "If the New Brunswick government had not failed to properly regulate the chicken industry as required by law, then we would never have had to resort to going to the courts."
According to Landry, the conclusion that has been drawn and promoted by Groupe Westco that the court decisions allow them to sell their chickens wherever they want, and that the courts support Westco, is grossly exaggerated and a very liberal interpretation of the rulings.
"Clearly the government's current stance on this matter is biased towards the interests of a corporate producer (Groupe Westco) at the expense of the province's processing industry and New Brunswick consumers. The government must implement a solution that fairly allocates New Brunswick grown chicken to any and all processors in the province. This will promote competition in the industry and ensure that New Brunswick grown chickens are made available to New Brunswick consumers as was intended by the supply management system," Landry added.
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