Do Small Flockers need to admit to our arrogance, and our assumption that we're special and privileged? Why do Small Flockers assume that our grievances are important enough to be considered for attention and solution?
Agri007 and Better Farming have both pointed out the upset felt by Restaurants Canada ("RC") at being snubbed by Ontario's Farm Product Marketing Commission ("OFPMC"). After decades of stonewalling and abuse by Chicken Farmers of Ontario ("CFO"), OFPMC is seeking input from all stakeholders about the current system for calculation Cost Of Production ("COP") for broiler chickens in Ontario.
While OFPMC has asked for input, why are they stonewalling Restaurants Canada and others on the historic data on the COP system, and the current proposals on the table? It appears that OFPMC is asking for input because it is a politically correct step to take, but OFPMC really doesn't want the input, and won't use it to determine the COP solution eventually imposed on everybody.
Perhaps this is the same as Stalin asking for any comments and suggestions on how he might improve his performance at leader of USSR. You must have a death wish if you raised you hand in that room.
Restaurants Canada represents more than 30,000 businesses (eg. restaurants, bars, caterers, institutions and their suppliers) throughout Canada. The members of RC have more than one million employees; 80,000 locations; and 18 million customers a day. RC has been active for 70 years. In other words, RC is big and important. Perhaps they are bigger and more important than the #ChickenMafia.
Why then, is RC being ignored by OFPMC?
Can this be
explained by #ChickenMafia being exclusively about chicken, and
therefore their voice carries greater weight when it comes to COP for
broiler chicken? This exclusivity is contrasted with RC being a broad,
multifaceted group where chicken is just one of hundreds of issues that
face RC and its members?
RC has questioned the fairness of #ChickenMafia policies in the past. In August 2013, RC sent a letter to OFPMC about the reduction in the FCR (Feed Conversion Ratio) imposed on CFO and their chicken monopoly. That letter doesn't seem to have been answered by OFPMC in any substantial manner. OFPMC is taking a hands-off, laissez-faire approach, letting CFO do as they please.
In RC's 2013 survey of restaurant menu trends, locally produced white meat, organic poultry, and free-range poultry
were all top issues in the latest trends. Sounds like Small Flockers may have many things in common with RC and its members. Of course, #ChickenMafia can't discuss any of those RC issues, as the #ChickenMafia fall far short on serving any of those demands by RC's customers.
If RC gets stonewalled and ignored by OFPMC and others in the #ChickenMafia, is it any wonder that I and Small Flockers' plight gets the cold shoulder from the #ChickenMafia?
If RC is ignored and dismissed, do Small Flockers assume that they are a higher priority? Is this proof that Small Flockers are as arrogant as the #ChickenMafia?
No, I don't believe Small Flockers are special. Just because Small Flockers are small and just 1.5 years old, doesn't mean we need to abandon our cause.
Yes, Small Flockers case is close to impossible. All great struggles are near impossible at first. That's what makes them a "great struggle".
Small Flockers need to be patient, for this unfair, unjust, illegal stripping away of our rights and freedoms will not be solved in the short term. We need extreme stamina.
RC's Dave Barlow spent more than 10 years fighting against the unfair and disabling Supply Management Systems for chicken and dairy, finally making progress with access to TRQ chicken and lower tariff cheese. Can Small Flockers expect faster response to our needs? I doubt it.
Our cause, like RC's related cause, is just. That is why the #ChickenMafia feels they must deny, distract, dissuade, and deter all complaints and questions against SM. If one threat is allowed to be seen and then pulled, the entire SM garment will unravel and disappear before our eyes. The #ChickenMafia would be standing naked before us, soon scoffed at and ridiculed for its scrawny chicken legs.
Everything must be resisted, attacked, or ignored, or the #ChickenMafia risk everything.
A blog to communicate, discuss, and advocate for the civil rights and important role Small Flock Poultry Farmers can play (and should play) in Canadian Society. Small Flockers are on the side of justice & truth, and against privilege & power. Unfortunately, the more we compromise with privilege and power, the more we reduce the capacity for truth and justice.
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