‘Supply Management’ (SM) is the system used to control the supply of most Canadian farm commod-ities and, thus, keep the prices up for farmers. But the Supply Management of Quebec Maple Syrup Products may be doing more harm than good…
Nothing says ‘Canadian’; better than a big pour of real
Maple Syrup over a stack of fresh, hot pancakes…
You know the old saying… Make something illegal, and someone will make a profit off of supplying it. Prohibition was perhaps the prime example of the past century. But the SM program governing Québec Maple Syrup may be the biggest since the Millennium.
Thieves broke into the ‘secret’ warehouse where the PPAQ, Québec’s Maple Producers Association, hoards its surplus syrup. Not once but several times, during 2011 and 2012. Carrying off more than 3,000 metric tonnes of syrup worth (C)$18.7 million. They would have had neither the motive nor the opportunity to commit the crime if the Producers’ supply management system had not existed.
Likewise, the more recent scandal involving an Eastern Townships producer who was importing New Brunswick and Ontario maple syrup and canning (see photo, top of page) them under his own label. Then reselling it out of province as ‘Product of Québec’. What’s worse, he was diluting the syrup with cane sugar to further stretch his profits.
Many smaller cases
The folks at ACER, the agency responsible for testing and assuring quality control of Quebec Maple Products, say they’ve seen many small cases of fraud before. But…
“This is the first time I’ve seen falsification of this kind. You can see that it’s outright cane sugar that’s been added to the cans,” Luc Lagacé, microbiologist and Director of Research at ACER, told CBC-Radio Canada.
However, Geneviève Clermont, head of ACER’s Inspection Division, also noted that 90 percent of Que-bec’s maple syrup is sold in bulk to repackagers and food processors. That’s where the agency focus-es its testing efforts. Individual producers are not checked for the purity of their wares. Even if the products are going out of province, to major retailers. So, in effect, the producers, themselves have to ‘own’ the fraud and theft problem.
What about consumers?
We at the consuming end have to fend for ourselves. Unless some official agency or the Law steps in.
In the case of Steve Bourdeau, the guy who was reselling non-Québec syrup as ‘Product of Quebec’ and diluting it with up to 50 percent plain old white cane sugar, was setting himself up for both Asso-ciation and legal sanctions. But he sold thousands and thousands of cans of bogus syrup before he was unmasked by a CBC investigative journalism ‘sting’. But no action has (yet) been taken.
My take
I feel cheated, and so should you. Because we have been. Apparently in a big way, and for a long time. Some of Bourdeau’s customers in Ontario included members of thy Big 5 supermarket cartel – Sobey’s and Metro.
But more important is the damage to Canadian Maple Syrup brand. Québec supplies almost 78 per-cent of the world’s Maple Syrup. It’s a source of pride not only for the province but the whole country.
Not we’ve all received a public image black eye.
My questions to you…
Is the SM program controlling Québec Maple Syrup prices doing more harm than good?
Did you ever notice a watery or off flavour in the Maple Syrup you’ve purchased in the past few years?
Did you buy it in cans marked ‘Product of Quebec’?
If so, chances are, you were hoodwinked by Steve Bourdeau. And so were the retailers involved.
One supermarket chain is offering compensation to folks who can prove they bought bogus syrup from them. But others are not.
Do you feel slighted? Even cheated by the retailers?
Most importantly…
Will you pause before grabbing a can of ‘Québec’ Maple syrup off the shelf again?
Muse on that!
~ Maggie J.