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A Government and Industry Monitoring Committee was established to monitor the progress of the open marketing system and to detail the terms of an •open marketing or single desk' plebiscite of hog producers which was to occur no later than September 30, 1998.
The hog producers plebiscite was conducted by the Alberta Agriculture Products Marketing Council during July 1998. A mail-in question asked by the plebiscite involved producers making a choice between the continuation of the open market system or returning to the single desk system.
The criterion, that was set out by regulation instructed the Marketing Council to conduct the vote, required a minimum 30% of eligible registered producers, representing a minimum 60% of the total hog production.
In counting the producer votes, the Price Waterhouse returning officer reported "that the minimum criterion as set out in the regulation was not met and therefore the ballots were not counted for the purpose of holding a plebiscite."
The returning officer tabulation was as follows:
- Number of producers eligible (*) to vote (100%): 2,975
- Total production represented (100%):3,311,660
- Total production represented by those who cast ballots: 1,933,384 (57.7%)
- Number of ballots returned: 937 (31.5%)
- Number of ballots rejected or spoiled: 2
- Note: * An "eligible" producer" was defined as a producer who had paid a service charge to the APPDC between January 1, 1997 and April 30, 1998, and had been assigned a farm unit registration number by the APPDC.
Although the minimum number of eligible producers was exceeded, the total hog production minimum requirement was not met - therefore the returning officer could not count the ballots.
In follow-up to the report of the returning officer, the Government and Industry Monitoring Committee met and prepared a recommunication on the future of hog marketing for presentation to the APPDC Board of Directors, the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, and the Marketing Council. The filed report stated:
"The hog industry monitoring Committee was charged with the responsibility of reviewing the operations of the industry during the first two years of open marketing. The Committee was to carry out its responsibilities until such time that a producer vote was held. The Committee was also mandated to provide a recommendation on the future of the industry to the Minister, the APPDC Board and Marketing Council.
As you know, the minimum criteria to count the ballot in the plebiscite was not met. In carrying out its responsibilities, the hog monitoring Committee makes the following recommendation:
"As a result of the plebiscite on marketing options, the Alberta hog industry continue under open marketing."
The Committee asks that you confirm, in writing, your support for the recommendation.
In the event that all parties support the recommendation, the Committee will consider its work complete and will disband. Thank you for consideration of this recommendation."
The Minister of Agriculture, the Marketing Council and APPDC Board of Directors received and accepted this report. It was also agreed that since the Committee had completed its work, that it disband.
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