The Lucknow Sentinel, 2016-08-17, Page 15Wednesday, August 17, 2016 • Lucknow Sentinel 15
ANTRAL Ontario Farm Commission's
powers questioned
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John Miner
London Free Press
He's likened himself to a hit
man, the guy who does the dirty
work so the minister of agricul-
ture and the rest of the Ontario
cabinet can keep their hands
clean.
Un -elected, unapologetic,
Geri Kamenz is also arguably
the most powerful individual in
Ontario's food sector, heading a
six -member commission that
calls the shots on everything
from the size of milk containers
in grocery stores to how dozens
of farm commodities are
bought and sold.
A staggering three-quarters of
the farm gate value of all agri-
cultural commodities produced
in Ontario falls under the cabi-
net -appointed board's jurisdic-
tion that includes oversight of
Ontario's 21 farm marketing
boards.
It's what the commission is
recommending to do with one
of those boards — the London-
based Ontario Processing Vege-
table Growers association —
that's putting Kamenz in the
spotlight.
The commission is recom-
mending that the association be
stripped of its collective bar-
gaining powers.
At a recent meeting of the Egg
Farmers of Ontario, Kamenz
was videotaped in a presenta-
tion talking about the movie
The Professional, in which a hit
man tries to explain to an
11 -year-old girl what he does
for a living.
He settles for describing him-
self as "a cleaner."
"In many respects that's what
we are ... we are the cleaners.
We are the ones who are arm's
length from government so that
the minister, or the cabinet, or
anyone else in government
does not have to get their hands
dirty and direct people what to
do.
"It's our role to sit down with
your board and other boards,
with the processing commu-
nity, and get at the heart of a
problem and then go clean it
up, to keep it out of the main-
stream media and keep it out of
the press and chart a more suc-
cessful path forward:'
A former air force pilot,
Kamenz is a cash crop, beef and
pork farmer from Eastern
Ontario. His appointment as
head of the commission in 2008,
just two months after stepping
down as president of the Ontario
Postmedia photo
Geri Kamenz is the head of the six -member Ontario Farm Commission.
Federation of Agriculture, raised
eyebrows because the job usually
went to a career civil servant.
Reportedly paid more than
$100,000 ayear, Kamenz was also
the first to be appointed to the job
as a part-time employee.
He is someone people within
the farming community, even
opposition MPPs, are reluctant to
get in a scrap with.
At a recent farm meeting, local
growers were advised by their
leaders to concentrate on influ-
encing the Agriculture minister
and avoid antagonizing the com-
mission and Kamenz.
His tight-lipped media
approach is a strategy he has
stuck to in his push to strip the
Ontario Processing Vegetable
Growers association of its powers
to collectively bargain with pro-
cessors on behalf of farmers.
Despite being the designated
spokesperson for the powerful
commission, Kamenz hasn't
responded to repeated requests
for an interview to explain why
the commission is proposing to
overturn a marketing system that
has been in place for decades.
Vegetable growers, scrambling
to get their crops harvested, sug-
gest they've been ambushed by
Kamenz and the commission.
They have been given until Friday
to respond to the proposal posted
without warning last month on a
government website that
announces possible changes in
regulations. In its notice, the
commission said it plans to make
a final decision in September and
have the new rules in place for
the next growing season.
"If Geri Kamenz has the
authority from this provincial
government to act as a hit man,
then he is doing his job, and the
public should pass judgment on
this government and specifically
the minister of agriculture for act-
ing in such a manner," said David
Epp, a Leamington -area tomato
grower who has said he will quit
the industry if the vegetable asso-
ciation is stripped of its negotiat-
ing powers.
If Kamenz is acting on his own,
Epp said, the agriculture minister
needs to act.
"I know what my judgement
would be if my employee acted in
such a manner, Epp said.
Ontario Agriculture Minister
Jeff Leal's office said the minister
is on vacation and is unavailable
for comment on Kamenz's state-
ments .
"It is not the practice of the
ministry to comment on remarks
made or given," Christina Crow-
ley-Arklie, press secretary to Leal,
wrote in an email.
PC agricultural critic Toby Bar-
rett, who has pushed to have the
commission's deadlines
extended for the vegetable grow-
ers, said communication and
consultation are important parts
of the commission's job.
"You have no business blind -
siding people, no business ram-
ming things through in a demo-
cratic system," he said.
Barrett said the Liberal govern-
ment has used the same
approach of delegating decisions
with other controversial
programs.
"We've watched the inappro-
priate electricity policy laundered
through various agencies created
by the Ontario government," he
said.
As for Kamenz, he told the egg
farmers that he knows his work
can make him unpopular.
"Every time I put the key in my
office door and it still turns and
they haven't changed the lock, I
deem that to be successful," he
said.