highest court has ordered the provincial government to pay $3.5 million to a company at the heart of a tainted-meat scandal nearly two decades ago, pointing to the province’s “litany of bureaucratic ineptitude” in temporarily taking over the business.ruled the provincial Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs owed a duty of care to Aylmer Meat Packers and its owner, Butch Clare, when it took over the company’s abattoir in 2003 amid its sprawling tainted-meat investigation.
Aylmer and Clare had sued the province for negligence, trespass and conversion and sought damages, but their claim was dismissed at trial. Lauwers said the trial judge erred in several ways, including by conflating the province’s duty of care with the standard of care. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs declined to comment. A spokesman with the province’s Ministry of the Attorney General said the province is reviewing the decision but would not comment further.
The police launched a criminal probe and eventually laid charges against Aylmer, Clare, and his two sons. In 2007, Aylmer and Clare pleaded guilty to selling meat that had not been inspected and to selling meat wrapped in bags bearing an unauthorized federal meat inspection legend, the ruling said. Many charges against Clare were dropped, as were all the charges against his sons.
“The meat spoiled because the ministry, having noticed the malfunctioning freezer in September 2003, took no steps to repair it for 10 months,” Lauwers wrote.