Send Emails for NS Turkey Trauma

All readers of this Blog are respectfully requested to send an email to the government of Nova Scotia, asking them to back off the destruction and persecution of small flock turkey farmers and their supporting services in Nova Scotia.

We became aware last week of the repeated attacks upon small flock turkey farmers.  See Blog postings Turkey Trauma and Turkey Talk for Nova Scotia.

To help you get started, I have drafted a quick start.  It is better if you customize that draft so that it eactly matches for facts and feelings.

Click on the following link.  It will open your email program, then you can modify to suit.  Feel free to use any of the info that was in my email to these NS politicians (copy & paste at will).  See:   My previous email


Email the Government of Nova Scotia on Trauma Inflicted to Small Flock Turkey Farmers


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The following is the text of the email I sent on 2015/05/11.  Borrow freely, as you please, to use in your email.
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To: Nova Scotia's Premier, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Health, and MLA for Pictou West

I would like to support the continuation of small flock turkey growers in Nova Scotia, and the supporting infrastructure, such as Larkin Bros. PEI who raise turkey poults for NS turkey growers, and Gordon Fraser's 35 yrs. as a butcher shop-abattoir in Milbrook NS.

After being contacted by News 95.7 in Halifax this morning, I did a posting on our Blog (see http://canadiansmallflockers.blogspot.ca/2015/05/turkey-trauma.html), and a radio interview with Sheldon Macleod on News 95.7 FM radio Halifax NS.  I am glad to see the growing quantity and passion of support for small flock turkey farming in Nova Scotia.

I was also able to get a friend to get Nova Scotia some additional coverage too:  http://agri007.blogspot.ca/2015/05/larkin-bros-banned-by-nova-scotia.html

Hopefully this will soon be on the CBC National News, or equivalent.

Unfortunately, the "official, approved" system for commercial turkey production under Supply Management and/or Provincial/Federal Meat Regulations, in spite of best efforts and intentions to the contrary, puts everybody's life at risk; whether from bacterial contamination, Superbugs created from improper use of antimicrobial drugs, inferior nutritional quality of the resulting meat, or unaffordability.

In my experience, the Supply Management System, whether in NS or elsewhere in Canada, usually wants to hide behind the "food safety" smoke screen.

University of Guelph, CFIA, and other studies have repeatedly shown that 30% to 80% of retail chickens are significantly contaminated with deadly bacteria.  I assume similar problems with commercially produced turkeys under Supply Management.   A butcher with a sharp knife is often better than an expensive, high speed poultry processing machine usually used by the commercial factory farms and processors under Supply Management.  For manual evisceration done properly by a farmer or butcher, the resulting meat will often have 96% less bacterial contamination than the commercially produced meat (see http://canadiansmallflockers.blogspot.com/2014/02/hope-for-mega-meat-manufacturers.html ) .

There is a world-wide health crisis, and Canada is included in that crisis.  There are now more obese people in the world than the under-nourished.  Small flock turkeys in Nova Scotia can be (and is) a significant part of the solution to that health crisis.  In Nova Scotia, health care eats up about $4.5 billion of the province’s $9.5 billion annual budget; a whopping 47.4% of the NS provincial budget.

Many studies now indicate that up to 75% of human disease is caused or contributed to by poor nutrition, which includes poor eating habits.  Unfortunately, this can't be simply solved by "eating healthy".  For example, a hundred years ago, the potato was a rich source of Vitamin A and C, and many trace nutrients.  Not today, as the typical potato has lost almost all of its Vitamin A, lost 47% of their copper, lost 45% of their iron and lost 35% of their calcium.  It isn't just the potato that has suffered this terrible fate.  Many fruits, vegetables, grains, meats, and other foods are becoming more and more depleted.  For commercially produced chicken, there is now more fat, and the fat Omega-3 to Omega-6 ratio has totally flipped to the unhealthy side in the last 50 years (Ref: BANT http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2005/may/15/foodanddrink.shopping3 ). In other words, the good food isn't so good anymore.  Foods high in carbohydrates are now known to be addictive, and often result is a positive feedback loop, causing us to consume more of what is not good for us.  Blis point food research by large corporations and very powerful individuals (commonly called "Big Food") has purposefully (or inadvertently at least) caused the creation and marketing of foods that are more and more addictive.

All of this has been caused (or taken advantage of) by Big Food who are focused (exclusively, or nearly so) on maximizing their profits, regardless of the societal costs.  Seeking profits by corporations is what their government's charter and incorporation bylaws requires them to do, so it is no wonder that they do so.  Unfortunately, there are insufficient constraints on this inbred search for profits.  One of the indirect consequences of this profit seeking by Big Food is the slow evolution from locally produced food on local, family farms toward huge factory farms run by (or terribly influenced by) huge corporations.

In short, Big Food is directly and indirectly causing your provincial health budget to explode, and cruel suffering to be inflicted on millions of Canadians, including almost a million people in NS.  There are some indications that Big Food is somewhat aware of the terrible impact of their actions, but they choose to do little to nothing to remedy the situation.

One particularly gruesome example of Big Food is the Supply Management System in Canada for table eggs, hatching eggs, chicken, turkey, and dairy; a system which has been around for about 50 years.  It was created by the Federal and Provincial governments so as to help the farmers, so they can better provide the necessary food to Canadians.  The monopolies created by the governments and delegated to these industry sectors as a self-regulating and self-policing system has slowly evolved away from its intended focus on the greater good for the public.  It is now used as a weapon against Canadians.  For example, eggs in Canada are about 52% more expensive than in the USA.  Cheese and milk are 38% to 100% more expensive in Canada.  These are bad enough, but chicken is between 50% to 300% more expensive in Canada; king of Big Food's kleptocracy.  Farmers get some of this unfair and excessive profit, but it is mainly other players in the Big Food cartel who are the gluttons feeding on the consumer's pocketbook through these exorbitant prices.

Health Canada studies show that on average, 7.6% of Canadian families can't afford the food they need to feed their families; as high as 28% in Nunavut.  If Canadians can't afford the food they want and need, they are forced to buy what they can afford; which means even lower quality food.  This has a direct causal link to their subsequent poor health, and the extra health care services you are subsequently required to provide, and the extra bills taxpayers eventually have to pay.  Diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, fatty liver, rheumatoid arthritis, and Alzheimer's Disease are just some of the diseases linked to poor nutrition; most of which are seeing world-wide pandemics in incidence and prevalence rates, in both Canada and around the world.  It is estimated that if the current trends continue, diabetes alone will consume 100% of the total health care budget by 2045.

In the 1950's Canada was one of the best in the world for chicken FCR.  Today, New Zealand chicken farmers are the best with an FCR of 1.38 (versus Canada's 1.72), which places us 24.6% behind the world leaders, wallowing in mediocrity.  FCR directly affects price of chicken, so that a bad FCR puts Canada at a 14.8% price disadvantage with foreign chicken producers (if we assume non-FCR costs are similar, and since feed costs are 60% of the total cost of production; 0.6*1.246+0.4*1.0= 1.148= 14.8% price disadvantage for Canada).   Here is the background info on the poor FCR (Feed Conversion Ratio) that the 2,700 fat, dumb, & happy multi-millionaire chicken farmers in Canada have done to almost destroy the Canadian chicken industry.  http://canadiansmallflockers.blogspot.ca/2013/03/why-not-export-canadian-chicken.html

The commercial poultry growers have also been doing weird things with drugs and chemicals.  See Frankenstein Chicken:   http://canadiansmallflockers.blogspot.com/2013/04/choose-frankenstein-chicken-or.html

In Ontario, we estimate that 430,000 new jobs can be created by allowing Small Flock farmers to have just 10% of the provincial chicken market, producing local food, and helping the rural economy.  If we assume the same ratio for NS, you could create 29,700 new jobs for NS via small flock farming and local food.  (see http://canadiansmallflockers.blogspot.com/2014/03/430000-new-jobs-for-ontario.html ).  That could be achieved with the stroke of a pen by the NS Minister of Agriculture, with 30 days notice.  No expenditure required.  How's that for job creation cost & speed?

There will soon be 10 Billion people on this planet as the current population demographic holes fill in over the next 50 years or so.  The world needs more food, and Canada could supply a significant part of it.  Unfortunately, we are blocked by Big Food, especially Canada's Supply Management System.  For example, Canada is currently in last place (7th out of 7) of the OECD nations for chicken exports; a mere 1.4% market share of this Billion dollar export market.  If we changed Supply Management, we could slowly improve, catch up with the rest of the world, and eventually provide up to 50% of the OECD market.  At that level, Canada would have to produce 5 times more chicken than what we do today.  That would be Billions in additional GDP for Canada, and thousands more of good permanent jobs, reducing your Nova Scotia unemployment rate, as well as Canada's overall.  We can't do that today because Canada's Chicken Mafia is content with the continued raping and plundering of innocent Canadians, rather than exporting.

The Feb. 2014 Iveny Report (One Nova Scotia) noted that a crisis currently exists in NS, especially for rural areas, and recommends agriculture, local food, and exporting food as viable solutions.  Small flock turkeys in Nova Scotia are an example of the recommended solutions.

Since your NS political predecessor and your provincial political neighbours created this Frankenstein monster of Supply Management that repeatedly attacks Canadian consumers and small flock poultry producers, I believe it is the politicians who are responsible to rein in this out-of-control Big Food monster.  Since it is better to start with the root cause rather than the symptom, that is why something needs to be immediately done, first and foremost, about the Supply Management wing of Big Food, as this is the worst of the worst.

If you seek documentation to convince you of the statements and allegations made here, please feel free to visit our Blog where I have documented and explained these chronic sins against Canadians by Big Food, the Chicken Mafia, and the Egg Mafia (see http://canadiansmallflockers.blogspot.ca ).

You will have to convince and enjoin your Cabinet colleagues to act in unison with you on this important issue.  If you or your Cabinet colleagues ignore, doubt and fail to verify, delay, lose your perseverance, or forget about this issue, then thousands of people (some of them your constituents), will suffer the cruel consequences.

As to your NS citizen Mr. Gordon Fraser, who is currently being attacked by the Turkey Mafia, if Mr. Fraser wants to help small flock turkey producers by continuing to provide turkey abattoir services, as he has done for the last 35 years, in an ecologically sustainable, efficient, safe, clean, and nutritious manner, I think it is paramount for the Nova Scotia government to find some way to convince, encourage, or force the Nova Scotia branch of the Turkey Mafia to consult and accommodate him in some reasonable manner (and all other small flockers and local abattoirs of a similar nature)  in their current supply management system.  Similarly, we must permit small flock farmers to continue obtaining turkey poults from Larkin Bros. in PEI, and other local food endeavors to thrive; in spite of the entrenched Big Food monopolists, and the swarming of their lobbyists in the back halls and offices of government.

Beyond the current Turkey Trauma in Nova Scotia, here is how we suggest the overall Supply Management system be improved: 

http://canadiansmallflockers.blogspot.ca/2013/03/10-steps-to-success2.html
and
http://canadiansmallflockers.blogspot.ca/2013/05/climbing-out-of-our-sm-hole.html
and
http://canadiansmallflockers.blogspot.ca/2013/05/draft-plan-for-ending-canadas-supply.html

Thank-you for your prompt attention and consideration of these important issues for immediate resolution by your government.

--
Glenn Black   President
Small Flock Poultry Farmers of Canada
c/o 576 Firehall Rd.    P.O. Box 101
Providence Bay ON P0P 1T0
Phone (705)-377-4039
Email:   cdn.small.flockers@gmail.com
Blog:    http://canadiansmallflockers.blogspot.ca

Small Flock Poultry Farmers of Canada is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to communicate, discuss, and advocate for the civil rights and important role that small flock poultry farmers can play (and should play) in Canadian Society.

The Legal ball in the court of the #ChickenMafia

A previous Blog post published the draft Statement of Claim against the controlling minds of the #ChickenMafia (see SFPFC takes #ChickenMafia to Court over Bogus FCR).

One analogy of this situation is the Defendants were the security guards of the public treasury. Instead of protecting the treasury, they opened the doors and put out signs inviting their friends and any looters to come in and take whatever they wanted. They have some of the loot that they took for themselves (unjust enrichment), but the majority of the public treasure was taken by their friends and unknown looters (due to negligence by the security guards). The security guards however, as the controlling minds, have responsibility for what they did (both unjust enrichment and negligence), and the wrongs they allowed others to do by their negligence.  In the end, they are responsible for all of it.

It's going to be interesting to see how all the controlling minds in Chicken Supply Management respond to this. Some may want to resolve the issue and have it go away as quickly as possible.  Others will have the knee jerk reaction to open up their legal war chest, hire the best legal gun slingers available, and fight forever to block this issue and deny or avoid any resolution.

I'm sure they will want to have a united front, stick together through thick & fin, but with hard feelings between CFC and CFO, will the common enemy (Small Flockers) bring them together, or will it drive them apart? Will one blame the other for getting them into this mess? I'm sure there will be many dynamics and intrigue behind the scenes on this.

My personal lawsuit is nothing but a mosquito at their BBQ; a mere nuisance to them.  However, if successful, they know what comes next.  Somebody else will pick up the torch and try to follow in my path.  Then another.

Eventually, some enterprising lawyer sitting in the audience watching this spectacle will be unable to contain himself any longer.  He will salivate only so long over a potential Class Action lawsuit for all Canadians, and the full $10 Billion that the #ChickenMafia stole from Canadians.

That's when it will get really interesting.

This is way out there, but if it goes to the ultimate success via a Class Action lawsuit for all Canadians, where will the #ChickenMafia get the $10 Billion to pay the Court-awarded compensation to Canadians? At $1.5 million in quota value time 2,700 quota farmers, that is $4.05 Billion. Not quite enough.

Will they mail out 66% off retail store coupons for chicken to all Canadians until the debt is discharged?  How will they cash flow that loss of ongoing revenue?

I'm sure Farm Credit Canada ("FCC") will loan the #ChickenMafia the money to pay the Court judgement.  Oh wait, FCC is very over-extended already, and may have great difficulty collecting on the loans they already stuffed into farmer's pockets (see FCC: The Farm Debt Trafficker and Frightening Farm Finances ).

A previous Blog posting The New Chicken Farmer shows that the starter chicken farm has a capital investment of $4.6 Million. Some farms are bigger than this "starter" farm, but depreciation of the older assets may bring it back to somewhere close to this value. At 2,700 quota farmers in Canada, this is a total capital asset of $12.42 Billion, which will cover the Court award with $2.4 Billion left over for legal fees and miscellaneous costs.

Here's a wild and crazy solution.  Perhaps Canadians should "nationalize" the quota-based chicken farms as part of the settlement.  Canadians will own all quota-based chicken farms (as a National Co-op perhaps ?), and each farmer gets a $888,000 buyout paid over 20 years (the $2.4 Billion excess divided up amongst the 2,700 farmers, which is a $44,400 per year per farmer payout) as a levereged buyout (see LBO).  If they want, the quota-based farmers can keep their jobs, now as a wage slave, running those publicly owned quota-based chicken farms.

Interesting turn of events, don't you think?

Of course, all this is just wild speculation that will take at least the next 10 years to play out.  There is just a slim chance that any of this really occurs, but it's fun to dream.

Dreaming these kind of dreams also helps in the interim, to survive another day of oppression and tyranny at the hands of the #ChickenMafia without going crazy.

I can't wait to see how it all comes out.

Enough is Enough! The Supreme Court has Ruled.

Is the Supreme Court of Canada on the side of Small Flockers, and against the Supply Management monopoly system?

In the recent Supreme Court decision the judgement referred to a hypothetical example of bad law.  Suppose that riding your bike is a legal activity, but for some strange reason the government passes a law  for the purpose of protecting you, which prohibits you from wearing a bicycle helmet.

The Supreme Court states that under Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, this bicycle helmet law would be unconstitutional, as it could be easily shown that it puts bicycle riders at greater risk, cannot be supported or justified on an objective, scientific evidence basis, and is therefore arbitrary, and therefore violates fundamental justice.

Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms, Section 7

7. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

In Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford, 2013 SCC 72, the Supreme Court has said that "fundamental justice" means:

"This case concerns [fundamental justice,] the basic values against arbitrariness (where there is no connection between the effect and the object of the law), overbreadth (where the law goes too far and interferes with some conduct that bears no connection to its objective), and gross disproportionality (where the effect of the law is grossly disproportionate to the state’s objective)." 

Makes sense to me.

Now look at the Small Flockers vs. #ChickenMafia case for the Ontario Meat Regulations.

CFIA, University of Guelph, and OMAF have consistently found that 30% to 80% of Canadian chicken is contaminated with lethal bacteria (eg. E. Coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria, and/or other human pathogen)Contaminated Chicken and here.
, including superbugs ( for example, see Blog Posting

The Provincial and Federal government have passed regulations that restrict the slaughter of meat to only occur at their approved abattoirs.  These "approved" abattoirs usually entails long distance shipping of the poultry, causing and spreading contamination from some birds to all birds.  Next, mechanized high speed, high volume slaughter systems spread that contamination everywhere, up and down the production line.  Even when done exactly according to the approved procedure, this will usually result in multiple birds being significantly contaminated. This contaminated meat puts consumers at significant risk, up to and including death.

Secondly, the nutritional content of a chicken factory bird is worse than small flock birds that are pasture or free-range raised.

Thirdly, many of the Supply Management chicken factories use a witches' brew of drugs and chemicals to maximize their the #ChickenMafia's profits, regardless of the downstream impact on those who unknowingly buy or consume the resulting meat.

Alternatively, on-farm slaughter done one bird at a time in a correct manner, prevents or mitigates the potential contamination of the meat.  Unfortunately, this is prohibited by Ontario law, by a penalty on first offense of 2 years in jail and a $25,000 fine.

I take offense to the government prohibiting the safer route, subjecting me and all others to significant risks.

If a law significantly impacts somebody's life, liberty, or security, and this law violates fundamental justice, then the Supreme Court of Canada says this is bad law, and cannot be justified in the free and democratic country of Canada.

I have repeatedly asked the Ontario government to share with me the objective evidence upon which they based these oppressive meat regulations.  They have stonewalled and refused to do so.

I asked the government where is there risk assessment and sound science upon which these regulations are based.  They have none.

Justice Haines in his 2004 Meat Report strongly recommended that the government base all meat regulations upon sound science.  The Liberal Government has ignored this comprehensive report on two separate occasions when they passed their Meat Regulations, and instead, they passed whimsical and arbitrary regulations that oppress small flockers and put all citizens at risk.

I previously Blogged (see Meat Regulations Gone Wild) about the over-reaching Regulations they passed in 2005, which they finally admitted in 2013 had gone way overboard, almost destroying half of the meat industry in Ontario.  While they admitted their mistake 6 years late, they then compounded their error by refusing to correct all their prior Meat Regulation mistakes when they re-did the regs in 2013 (see Blog posting Ignored by new Meat Regulations).

Why did the Ontario government ignore Justice Haines in 2005, and ignore Small Flockers plea for relief in 2012 and 2013?  Because they wanted to protect and serve their financial supporters, the millionaire #ChickenMafia and their friends.  Chicken Apartheid is alive and flourishing in Canada, where the 1,114 millionaire chicken factory owners oppress the 13.5 million people of Ontario, and persecute the 13,500 Smal Flockers in Ontario.

Enough is enough!

Cold Winter Wynne makes the Dec. 13, 2013
cover of Toronto Sun newspaper

Thanks to the Christmas gift from the Supreme Court of Canada, now is the time to end this #ChickenMafia insanity.

I will put the question to Premier and Agriculture Minister Wynne (a.k.a. Cold Winter Wynne), and if the government confirms their plans in writing to promptly adjust the Meat Regulations in response to Small Flockers plea for relief, whether in light of the recent Supreme Court ruling, or otherwise, then we will accept this and patiently wait.

If we get no answer, or we get foggy generalities with few commitments, then it appears it is time to go to Court to have the offending sections of the Meat Regulation declared ultra vires and/or unconstitutional.

If there are any lawyers out there (jailhouse or otherwise) who can assist with this plan, or advise a better strategy, or explain why this Supreme Court ruling doesn't in fact support the Small Flockers case, we would appreciate hearing from you.

Alternatively, it seems all three political parties in Ontario are spoiling for an election.  Perhaps we should wait for the calling of the election, then make sure these issues become the pivot point for the election.  After all, 8.2% of Ontario families can't afford the food they need to feed their families.  For 99.9% of Ontario citizens, they have to pay the chicken prices ranging between $4.98/kg to as high as $29.975/kg for chicken in Ontario grocery stores, 2 to 3 times the international price for chicken.

I'm no poly sci expert, but it seems that everybody will be reminded of these issues each week during the writ period as they do their weekly grocery shopping.  As bad as the Ornge, Gas Plants, Heinz, Kellogg's, wind turbines, Ontario North, and all other Liberal scandals are, all of these scandals are in the past, not likely to repeat, and none resonate with voters like the double & triple prices they pay for chicken every week at the grocery store, and will continue to be forced to pay until it becomes an issue that will win or lose elections.

An Oct. 2013 Nanos Research poll found that the Liberals had 36% support, PC's had 31%, and NDP had 26%; in other words, neck and neck (7% no preference).  All the NDP needs is an issue that steals 10% of the support away from the other two parties, and they would have 32.7% support; beating the other two parties.  For the PC's, they only have to win an additional 6% support from the other parties, and they would lead with 34.7% support.

A majority government will take a little bit more shifting, but I'm sure you, and all three political parties get the point.  Wynne's government is vulnerable.  Now is the chance for the other parties to shift policy and join the winning side.  Being first to switch will have its rewards.

Everybody seems to agree that Wynne is a smart and savvy lady.  If she shifts alliances soon, it just might cause a Christmas spirit of forgiveness in the hearts of all Ontarians when they gain hope of cheaper chicken and more jobs throughout Ontario in their near future.

Alternatively, perhaps Wynne is banking on continued poor nutrition for the populace, causing early onset of Alzheimer's among voters, so that all the past scandals of the Liberal government are prematurely forgotten.

In that same poll, Ontarians said healthcare was the #1 issue, identified by 22% of the citizens polled.  I suggest that healthcare is the top issue right now, only because they don't know how badly they are being screwed over for chicken, eggs, turkey, and dairy prices.  Small Flockers plan to change that.

Secondly, affordable nutritious food is a healthcare issue as I pointed out previously (see Blog posting Health Consequences of Food Monopolies).  Few people see a doctor every day, but everybody eats each day (or should).  That daily reminder may help bring these issues to the forefront soon enough.

Let the people understand, then they can vote for relief.

Now is the time for Small Flockers to prepare for the dropping of the Ontario writ (more on this soon).  Once the writ is dropped, we will need to hit all political parties, all town hall meetings, all political rallies, and all media outlets with an unending barrage of information and questions on these issues.

Therefore, if your are on the side of the Ontario citizens and Small Flockers:   Prepare!

If you are against Small Flockers and all citizens, and side with the #ChickenMafia:   Beware!

Fascist Chicken in Canada

Quite a while ago, I wrote the Blog Post $10.8 Billion of Fascist Chicken in Canada

Since then, nobody has questioned this use of "fascist".  No one has accused me of hyperbole or exaggeration.  I wonder why?

Here is a quote from a guy who probably knows what he talks about fascism:

Benito Mussolini (left) with Adolf Hitler (right)
while in Munich Germany, June 1940

"Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power."

Benito Mussolini
( 1883 – 28 April 1945)

Wikipedia tells us:

"Mussolini was an Italian politician, journalist, and leader of the National Fascist Party, ruling the country as Prime Minister from 1922 until his ousting in 1943. He ruled constitutionally until 1925, when he dropped all pretense of democracy and set up a legal dictatorship. Known as Il Duce ("the leader"), Mussolini was one of the key figures in the creation of fascism."

Mussolini was a significant ally of Adolf Hitler before and during World War II.

It should be noted that the Italian people eventually turned against Mussolini towards the end of WW II, attacked him, executed him by firing squad, then hung upside down from a gas station in Milan, as revenge for what he had done to the Italian people during his reign of terror.

I wonder why nobody objects to #ChickenMafia being called out as fascism?

Is it that the government monopoly granted to the #ChickenMafia is so obviously fascism that nobody doubts it as true?  Does everybody understand and accept that Canada's #ChickenMafia and its unholy alliance and support by our governments are truly the poster child of outright, unadulterated fascism?

Or is it that people no longer care?  They have given up?  They see it as hopeless?  They think I'm wasting my time in a impossible attempt to remove the tyranny and oppressions forced upon Small Flockers and all Canadian citizens?

A troubling set of questions, don't you think?

Perhaps you don't know the answers to these questions for sure, but you're willing to take a guess, or express your viewpoint.  I'd like to get the opinion of a real, live #ChickenMafia member too.

So click below, and let all of us know what you think.  You can claim your comments by posting your name and affiliation (ie. Proud member of Fascist #ChickenMafia, or Oppressed Small Flocker, or whatever), or post anonymously, as you please.

Ontario's Chicken Rebellion, 2014

It's always good to be wary of feisty farmers.  Is this the beginning of the end for the Chicken Mafia?

Concord Hymn

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882),
written for the 1837 celebration of the
battle at Concord, Massachusetts in April 1775;
the battle which launched the US American Revolution

Due to irresponsible and non-democratic governments, there was the American Revolutionary war in 1776, the French Revolution of 1789–1799, the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804, the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the independence struggles of Spanish America (1810–1825), Upper Canada Rebellion (1837), and the Chartists in England (1838-1848).

The Upper Canada Rebellion was another bunch of feisty farmers, just like at Concord Mass. 62 years earlier.  The rebels were soon defeated by the much more powerful government forces, and many were exiled to Tasmania or hung for treason.

However, the government of Upper Canada and England were both shocked that their nice, peaceful Canadians would rebel.

There is a direct connection in time and circumstance between this 1837 rebellion and the recalling of the Lt. Governor Sir Francis Bond Head in late 1837, the Crown sending Lord Durham as the new Governor-in-Chief in Jan. 1838, with the added mission to also report on the grievances of the people, and his proposed solutions.  Lord Durham's report resulted in significant changes to the previously corrupt form of government, and the joining of Upper & Lower Canada in 1840, which in turn eventually leading to the formation of Canada in 1867.

The shot heard 'round the world.

It seems each of these irresponsible governments saw themselves as immune, arrogant, and special; that the laws and rights that apply to others don't apply to them.  They learned differently soon enough.

If the government created the monster that runs rough shod over Canadians today, helping the chosen few at the expense of millions of citizens, shouldn't the government be held accountable for its actions, and tame the monster they created?

Today, we have another feisty farmer willing to take on the battle cry.  Today it's about the Chicken Mafia, the henchmen of the irresponsible governments of today.

Sean McGivern
Leader of Ontario Chicken Rebellion, 2014

Sean McGivern is a farmer, President of the Practical Farmers of Ontario ("PFO"), and one of the leaders of the Ontario Chicken Rebellion of 2014.  PFO has collected thousands of signatures on their petition to reform Ontario's chicken oppression, and free the people.

Sean is now ready to do battle with the Chicken Mafia.  Sean, the PFO, and many others have asked nicely for responsible government, positive change, and the civil rights for himself and all other Ontario citizens.  His pleas have fallen on deaf ears, just like in all of the other rebellions mentioned above.  Having no other choice, he has drawn up his battle plan and declared war on CFO, the Ontario Don of the Chicken Mafia.

William Lyon MacKenzie (1795 - 1861) was the recognized leader of the Upper Canada Rebellion 176 years ago.  Will history remember Sean McGivern as the leader of the Ontario Chicken War of 2014?  Time will tell.

In a letter Sean sent to CFO on Aug. 14th, 2013 Sean put  his cause before the Chicken Mafia, informing them of their illegitimate powers, and Sean's plan to proceed on with what is right.

It took CFO only 20 days to respond to Sean's letter, claiming unlimited rights and powers over chicken in Ontario, and warning Sean of the threatened consequences for his refusing to bow to the false god of chicken in Ontario.

In 6 days, Sean was back after the CFO to further explain and justify its claimed authority.  So far, there has been no response from the Ontario Don of the Chicken Mafia (ie. the CFO).  If a response occurs, I hope Sean will share that with everybody as well.

Participants in the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837 paid a very stiff price.  Michael Schmidt has had a similar battle with the government over raw milk, and paid a high price for his rebellion against the rights of adults to choose raw milk for themselves, and his right to produce it for them.

Will Sean suffer a similar fate as other leaders of rebellions against irresponsible and non-democratic governments?

Will there be others who choose to follow Sean's lead?

Time will tell.