Scott Reid's Lack of Support for Abattoir

Michelle Foxton | Aug 14, 2024

I feel it is imperative to reply to Scott Reid’s comments in the July 18, 2024 print version of the Frontenac News regarding the loss of Quinn’s abattoir.  By focusing narrowly on rebuilding Quinn’s and criticizing federal efforts without offering constructive solutions, Reid misses the opportunity to champion a more robust and resilient local food processing infrastructure. 

The loss of Quinn’s Meats in Yarker, while not immediately in the new riding of Lanark–Frontenac, has far reaching effects on an industry already suffering from a severe shortage of abattoirs. As of 2020, Eastern Ontario had lost 35 per cent of its small provincially-licenced abattoirs in the past 10 years.

It is a fallacy to claim that Quinn’s or Joyceville is an either/or situation. Abattoirs are critical pieces of infrastructure essential for local food production. They often act as bottlenecks due to their scarcity, impacting the entire food processing capacity of our region. Ensuring the availability and functionality of abattoirs is paramount for building a resilient local food industry. 

Without adequate abattoir services, local farmers face significant challenges in getting their products to market humanely, efficiently and cost-effectively. In speaking with local beef farmer Dave Perry, he advised that before Quinn’s fire “farmers were booking abattoir services a year and a half ahead, sometimes well before the animals were even born.”

The humane transportation of animals is a critical concern. Long journeys can be stressful for animals, affecting their well-being and the quality of the meat. Local abattoirs reduce the time animals spend in transit, ensuring they are treated more humanely and arrive in better condition. This consideration aligns with modern standards of animal welfare and ethical farming practices.

Sufficient local abattoirs significantly reduce transportation costs for farmers and allow for better planning and predictability, enabling farmers to schedule processing times that align with their production cycles. By streamlining the supply chain and reducing transportation and logistical expenses, the overall cost of meat production can be decreased. 

These savings can be passed on to consumers, making local food more affordable and accessible.  This, in turn, fosters a robust local food economy, creating jobs and supporting community resilience. 

If Scott Reid had been connecting with our local agricultural industry in the riding as I have since 2020, he also would have understood that the main focus of our farmers is local markets. As the province regulates intra-provincial agricultural trade, his focus on the federal government for not providing more federal licenses does little to address the immediate needs of our local farmers. 

Instead, a collaborative approach with stakeholders and all levels of government to identify and address actual barriers is essential. I was honoured to be able to participate this spring in a focus group that attended Joyceville to tour the former abattoir facility.  Corrections staff confirmed that any asset in their inventory is maintained in order to preserve them to the best of their ability, including the abattoir facility.

Community members, municipal economic development representatives, as well as agricultural representatives and Member of Parliament Mark Gerretsen, were in attendance. Ideas on how to attract abattoirs to the area were discussed in the context of the Joyceville facility. This is the kind of collaborative, can-do approach that is much needed, yet lacking in politics these days.  Unfortunately, the loss of Quinn’s has made the situation now dire and beyond urgent.

So, I ask Instead of blaming others, what steps has Scott Reid taken during his near 25 years in office to:

• advocate for local abattoirs for our farmers;
• address processing bottlenecks and support critical infrastructure development;
• reduce transportation costs and improve convenience for our farmers;
• improve animal welfare through better local abattoir access;
• support the growth of our local food economy?

What collaborative efforts has Scott Reid initiated to bring together municipal, provincial and federal resources to support our local agricultural community?  Or perhaps the question should be whether his business interests in a major grocery chain conflict with his duty to his constituents to ensure suppliers have all the tools they need to economically thrive?

As your Federal Liberal candidate, I am committed to listening to the agricultural community, exploring all viable options, advocating for efficient regulatory support, and ensuring that our local farmers have the resources they need to thrive. Together, we can build a stronger, more sustainable future for Lanark–Frontenac, where local food production is not only supported but celebrated as a cornerstone of our community’s prosperity.

Michelle Foxton