Ontario consumers want, deserve, and have the right to freedom of choice for the type of chicken they want to buy and consume as food; and

Ontario’s Chicken Supply Management System has caused, contributed to, or failed to prevent retail chicken prices becoming less and less affordable for all or most of Ontario’s citizens (eg. for those earning Ontario Minimum Wage during the period 1995 – 2005, retail chicken affordability has dropped 31.7%); and

Chicken Farmers of Canada (“CFC”) has recently granted Ontario a significant increase in its national share of chicken allocation under the Canadian Chicken Supply Management System; and

The 1,114 quota-based chicken producers in Ontario currently have a monopoly with ~99% market share, while many of the consumer’s needs and desires for specialty chicken (eg. Kosher, Halal, free range, pastured, enhanced animal welfare, full disclosure, full traceability, drug-free, antibiotic-free, naturally raised, growth promotant free, slow-grow, organic, locally produced, small farm, diversified farm, integrated farm, high sustainability, low environmental impact, heirloom breeds, low carbon impact, low fossil fuel use, low Greenhouse Gas impact, etc.) are under-served, ignored, or abandoned by the current quota-based Chicken Supply Management System; and

The 15,500 small flock, quota-exempt chicken farmers in Ontario already (or soon can, if regulatory restrictions are removed) produce many or all of the types of specialty chicken desired by the Ontario market, and this will likely improve the choices available to consumers, improve the local economies throughout Ontario with significant economic spin-off effects, and create up to 430,000 new jobs in the long term; and

Quota-based chicken producers are already guaranteed a “reasonable return” under Supply Management; and

Selling, leasing, or gifting of this additional chicken quota to the existing quota-based chicken producers will give them incremental windfall profits, with substantially less economic trickle down or spinoff effects, and minimal new job creation or retention.