These are excerpts from a Communication by Jeffrey Lowes.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Good Morning,
Many of you have been wondering about what stage the proceedings are at with the criminal charges against the members of the provincial government and activists. We have not been providing updates or outlines of our evidence due to concerns the information would be provided to the accused ahead of the final court date of June 28th, 2010. Threats from the activists or their lawyers have not been an issue as they have been given the option of pleading to a lesser charge or providing evidence in support of the charges in order of having the charges dropped against the individual. We have turned down media requests for information until after June 28th and are in the process of scheduling interviews. In total 29 individuals have been charged with 133 counts.
A recent email from the Public Prosecution Service of Canada stated: “The federal and provincial Attorneys General have a mandate to maintain the integrity of the criminal justice system, including the prevention of prosecutions that are not supported by a proper evidentiary foundation”. This statement was made because in an email to Mr. Lowes stated “The allegations you have made involve serious charges against many respected members of the community.” This has been pointed out by all three judges, a point that has not been lost on Mr. Lowes. The Prosecutors have asked we provide the balance of evidence to the Prosecution’s Office before June 23rd ahead of the June 28th hearing. We have clarified we are not dropping any of the charges (we have been asked if we would back down) as we have sufficient evidence to proceed on all counts. We have not filed charges in respect to the financials of the charities. It is our intent to expand the charges at a later date on the evidence of misappropriation of public funds.
Any one else from the industry that would like to provide statements should email or fax them before June 23rd 11:00 am, so they can be forwarded to the crown. Please include you name, date of birth, residency, credentials, licenses, company name and detailed contact information. The statements should outline what affect the ban has had on your business and lifestyle. Please include any issues you feel you need to point out. Please keep in mind Mr. Lowes will need to read the information into evidence on June 28th.
Please understand that the information provided to the courts has been witnessed or discovered by Mr. Lowes over the pass couple of years and was only made possible because of the financially support of a very small group of companies. If the industry would like to recover damages caused by the ban they will need to proceed with civil action. We have the interest from class action lawyers to proceed but will not commence any additional work on the file with out agreements between the lawyers and the companies seeking compensation. It has been suggested that the industry meets in the 3rd or 4th week of July to discuss the possible directions this may take. MREP is currently working directly with a couple of companies and their lawyers in Ontario.
On the issue of an injunction to putting the products back into the hands of the industry is very straight forward. Pay MREP Communications to work with a law firm to have an injunction in place before or around July 15th. Currently the industry manufacturing the alternative products is not interested in an injunction. Many companies have offered to provide funding after we have an injunction, but have yet to provide that financial commitment in writing? If your company is willing to provide in writing a dollar amount to offset the costs of an injunction, please forward the information in the form of a signed financially commitment by fax before June 25th. That information will be provided to a law firm who will then follow up with you to confirm the information before proceeding. We have already been in contact the manufactures for a matching amount.
The current replacement for weed control (Class 11) is Fiesta (Neudorff out of Germany) cost of $12.00 to $25.00 (depending on the rate) plus the additional service calls (at current application rates there is re-growth of the weeds). This product was not made available until after the start of this season and the costs have eroded any margins for profit. The current demand has out stripped the supply. Neudorff is not expected to increase production levels until late 2011 to meet current demand. The costs are expected to increase and the availability of the product will also be reduced next year as additional regions come under new pesticide restrictions (Most notability the State of New York). In the event of an injunction there would still be a market (DIY and organic programs) for the product. We have been in contact with the company and the three suppliers in Ontario. Sarritor has now hit the domestic market and we will report on the product and the future of the company at a later date.
**
We have received numerous emails and faxes about the “study” on “Evaluating the Success of Ontario’s Cosmetics Pesticides Ban Preliminary Results – 2008-2009 Urban Stream Water Quality Study”. The study took 168 samples from creeks in south western Ontario and is the “reported proof the ban is working”.
In looking at the report we have drawn a few conclusions:
a Grade 8 has been robbed of their science fair
the pesticide detected are the result of illegal applications (as many of the areas were under municipal bans)
municipal governments are not putting down the product correctly or are breaking the ban
home owners are running out of supply
If the study was conducted by the MOE there is an interesting statement we will be using on June 28th: “Previous estimates indicate that these three herbicides accounted for over half the total amount of pesticides used by lawn care companies in Ontario.” This statement supports our claim the MOE new the ban would affect the market place and the industry. Although the study contradicts an earlier study about pesticide reductions prepared by Patrick McInnis from Environmental Monitoring and Reporting Branch at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment: Pesticides in Ontario’s Treated Municipal Drinking Water 1986-2006. Overall we will save our responses for the court rather then the newspapers.
Info
c/o Jeffrey Lowes
Director of Government & Industrial Relations
M-REP Communications
PO Box 24010 direct 613.531.2657
1201 Division Street cell 613.483.7855
Kingston Ontario, Canada fax 514.221.4176
K7K 7A6
jplowes@mrepcommunications.com
www.mrepcommunications.com
[scribd id=33387093 key=key-8uy592kkk5dtx4naobw mode=list]
ORIGINAL BLOG POSTING (June15th): Evaluating the Success of Ontario’s Cosmetics Pesticides Ban Preliminary Results – 2008-2009 Urban Stream Water Quality Study
http://uncleadolph.wordpress.com/2010/06/15/diane-saxe-bullfrog-power-representative-tree-hugger-and-lawyer-quotes-peculiar-moe-pesticide-study-posted-on-the-coalition-for-a-healthy-ottawa-website/
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