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Industry changes fail to impress critics RICHARD ROLKE Morning Star Staff
Some meat producers and politicians are convinced the industry will continue to struggle despite changes to government policy. Norm Letnick, agriculture minister, was in Vernon Friday to announce that up to five class E slaughtering licences will be allowed in the North Okanagan as part of a two-year pilot program. “In a region the size of ours, how will five have an impact?” said Christine Fraser, a Spallumcheen councillor, who has been lobbying for a return to farm-gate meat sales. “If they are going to do a pilot, why not 20 or 25?” Presently, class E licence holders are small farms located in areas where there is no provincially licensed abattoir to fill the consumer demand for locally produced meat. They have not been issued in the North Okanagan because abattoirs exist. However, access to abattoirs has been challenging and many farmers were not willing to transport their animals long distances. The number of local producers has gone from 1,200 to 300 since meat processing regulations came into force in 2007. While she is trying to remain optimistic, Spallumcheen farmer Andrea Gunner isn’t sure Letnick’s plan will help. “It’s little and awfully late,” she said.
LISA VANDERVELDE/MORNING STAR
Agricultural Minister Norm Letnick (right) speaks with Armstrong farmer Bev Torrens (left) before announcing new meat inspection rules Friday at Vernon’s Schubert Centre. “Most of the industry has packed up and retired.” Each of the five farms granted a license will be allowed to slaughter a total of 10,000 pounds a year when an animal is weighed alive. Gunner isn’t sure if that will be enough to convince them to resume operations. The author of a local food systems plan is disappointed with the terms of the announcement. “It fails to show there’s been a fundamental shift in govern-
ment,” said Buffy Baumbrough, a former Regional District of North Okanagan director. “Five licences are token.” Baumbrough believes any farmer that wants to slaughter meat should be able to do so, and government concerns about public health are unfounded. “There’s no valid evidence that community scale agriculture has ever been an issue. The meat regulations undermined a system that worked,” she said. But not everyone is pessimis-
tic about the new guidelines. “We believe it is a start,” said Patrick Nicol, RDNO chairperson. “Eventually it will open the door for smaller producers wronged by the current policy.” Demands for regulation amendments largely stagnated until Letnick was named agriculture minister late last year. “I heard clearly there is a desire to do more farm gate,” he said. Letnick says the goal is to per-
mit small-scale slaughtering on farms while not compromising the financial viability of larger abattoirs. Eric Foster, Vernon-Monashee MLA, is confident a sufficient balance has been found. “Farm-gate sales won’t hurt A and B guys (abattoirs) and the pilot program will give us the opportunity to prove what we’ve been saying all along,” he said of the safety of farm-butchered meat. Foster expects the number of class E licenses will expand. “Five licenses is not a whole lot but it’s more than what we had,” he said. While in Vernon, Letnick revealed plans for B.C.’s new meat inspection system. “Consumer safety is paramount,” said Letnick. As of Jan. 1, 2014, the new $5.6 million system will replace federal meat inspectors who are leaving B.C. A government inspector will inspect each animal slaughtered at an abattoir. Richard Yntema, who runs a Grindrod abattoir, supports the inspection system and he isn’t concerned farm-gate operations will undermine his bottom line. “You won’t see class E’s popping up like dandelions in the summer because they have requirements to follow,” he said, adding that the rules may be too onerous for some farmers.
Foundation targets $2.5 million for tower project Morning Star Staff
Further funding details are known about an expansion at Vernon Jubilee Hospital. The Vernon Jubilee Hospital Foundation, a non-profit agency, has committed to raising $2.5 million over three or four years for equipment for two floors in the Polson tower and acute care beds. “The foundation is very supportive of this project and we are
anxious to assist in making the completion of the Polson tower a reality,” said Greg Mussenden, foundation president. On Feb. 7, Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid announced the two shelled-in floors will be completed at a cost of $29.6 million. Of that, the provincial governMussenden ment is providing $22 million and the remainder is coming
from the VJHF and the North OkanaganColumbia-Shuswap Regional Hospital District, although the NOCSRHD has not agreed to an exact figure yet. Mussenden says it took the VJHF board some time to determine the level of its commitment. “It takes a lot of planning and effort to successfully raise funds,” he said. “While planning the campaign,we will be conscious of the charitable needs of other local not-for-profit organizations.”
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As part of developing the campaign, the foundation has created an ad hoc committee to consider how the process will proceed. “We will be prepared to announce the foundation’s intentions within the coming months,” said Mussenden. “A formal campaign launch will be made by the foundation once a fundraising plan has been developed.” Construction of the two floors should begin in the fall, with the project completed by the summer of 2015.