No decisions made
Market members mum as meeting on whether to evict seven vendors drags on 4 1/2 hours without decisions
A meeting where members of the Saturday farmers’ market were to vote on whether to evict seven vendors went on for more than four hours on Monday night with no decisions made.
At least one vendor approached by The Examiner as he left the meeting said he couldn’t say what happened at the meeting, and a security guard said there was a gag order in effect (he wouldn’t elaborate on what exactly that meant or to whom it applied.)
Mark Jones, the marketing director for the board, only had this to say to The Examiner: “Go home.”
Reporters were barred from the meeting, which was for members only.
About a dozen protesters were on hand in the early part of the meeting; they’d dwindled to about four, past about 10 p.m.
The protesters, using the slogan No Pink Slips, were showing support for the seven vendors, Circle Organic, McLean Berry Farm, Ashburnham Farms Gaelic Garlic, Otonabee Apiary, Finest Gourmet Fudge, Chef Marshall Eckler and Necessitea Elixir.
The meeting was called after a group of 16 market vendors complained to the market’s board, accused the seven vendors of behaving aggressively or making comments to damage the market’s reputation.
The board was compelled to call a vote after 16 vendors requested it, market president Cindy Hope has said.
Meanwhile a handout was given to market members at the door calling the seven vendors “dissidents” and outlining three possible “paths” members could take to resolve the dispute.
The handout describes three paths: a) Vote out all “dissident” members b) vote out some of the “dissident” members or c) vote out none of the “dissident” members.
“If you vote out none of the dissident members ... dissident members will take over the board and the market,” the handout claims.
The meeting was called as tension has escalated between local producers and re-sellers (who buy produce from other people’s farms or from the Ontario Food Terminal in Toronto without necessarily pointing it out clearly to the customer).
Security guards manned the doors to keep protesters and reporters out and they papered the windows of the doors to prevent people from trying to take photographs through the windows.
The handout also claimed, “If you vote out some of the dissident members, market will still be sabotaged by vendors with their own agenda.”
It also states: “If you vote out none of the dissident members, campaign of malice will continue... City will not renew lease.”
The Examiner attempted to contact some members of city council to verify that last statement.
When reached by phone at home, Coun. Keith Riel said he’d spoken to Mayor Daryl Bennett and to city CAO Allan Seabrooke about the market lately, and there was never any mention of the lease not being renewed if certain members were not voted out.
“As far as I know, there’s no truth to that,” he said. “There’s nothing to that... nobody’s ever said that to me.”
Farmers’ Markets Ontario, a provincial association, issued a release on Monday stating that it advocates for transparency and honesty in labelling food sources, and it encouraged the use of the MyPick program.