I smell a rat - can no longer butcher own meat [General]

2009 Nov 22
www.ottawasun.com

I smell a big fat rat - probably factory farming interests the likes of Maple Leaf. Probably wrote this law for the government. I'd bet my next paycheque their lawyers wrote it and handed it over, much like what happened with the Michelin Bill in NS 30 years ago.

So I can go out in the woods and shoot a dear, and legally butcher it myself?

But I cannot raise my own livestock and slaughter it, even if I only want to consume it myself?

WTF?

2009 Nov 22
It would seem this guy was not just slaughtering it for himself. As for it being 'illegal' to do it yourself... this seems like one of those 'dont ask, dont tell' laws. There is virtually no way for the government to know if you're slaughtering for your own use, and even if they did, it would be very hard to catch you.

As for the employees that were affected by the Michelin Bill, it would appear that they currently make almost what their unionized brethren in other provinces make, but don't have to pay any union fees. The terms of that bill didn't seem that onerous to me, even though they did blackmail the province to passing it with the promise of a new factory (which they did build).

2009 Nov 22
Oh I agree if he was selling it he is an idiot and probably should be prosecuted. But nonetheless, being allowed to take a deer home and slaughter it, but not be allowed to do so with your own livestock - that is ridiculous.

As for the Michelin Bill - sure it all looks good on paper until you talk to some of the many people who lost their jobs with no means of recourse. Or the ones forced to work in hazardous environments with nobody to complain to. Oh, yeah, sure, the government agencies protect us in this day-and-age, right? Tell that to the twenty six men who died in Westray. All of this (Michelin and Westray) in my home community so I've lived it - I'm not just theorizing from far away. I have good friends who've worked at both places.

Anyway, that's off topic. This law really stinks to me. It's either the nanny state with it's nose in the wrong place, or someone being bought out by corporate interests. Either way, it stinks. Who is being protected here? Big Business. That's who. Nobody else.

2009 Dec 9
A more in depth article from yesterday's Ottawa Citizen:

www.ottawacitizen.com

It says that he and a small group of others were purchasing 2-3 cows over the course of a year at auction and having them butchered into quarters and then he was further cutting them at his place and then they would split up the meat among them. They were also butchering a few pigs themselves and then dividing it up amongst themselves.

The law apparently allows someone to butcher an animal on their own property for their family's consumption as long as it doesn't leave the property and non-family member guests aren't fed the meat.

Still it seems like it stems from a dispute with a neighbour and has turned into a bit of a witch hunt. I understand the guy's reasoning for wanting to provide meat for his family this way, but it seems that he has inadvertently broken some laws when his buddies took some of the pork home with them (which he admits to in the article).