Ontario's 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.The ministry took control of the plant for 19 months before returning it to Aylmer, but "by then the business was destroyed," Justice Peter Lauwers wrote for the three-member panel.
"In my view, the ministry's duty of care was to ensure that its regulatory actions did not unreasonably or unnecessarily harm Aylmer’s business interests," Lauwers wrote. But its actions in taking over the plant did harm the business, he wrote. The ruling said Aylmer Meat Packers was considered one of the busiest abattoirs in the province, specializing in processing cows at the end of their dairy production and cows that were unable to stand or walk but otherwise healthy for slaughter.
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.
"What followed the ministry's initially appropriate actions in detaining the meat was a litany of bureaucratic ineptitude," Lauwers wrote.
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