N.B. maple syrup processor wins sweet victory against Quebec industry

A New Brunswick maple syrup processor has scored a legal victory in his long-running battle with the organization that controls the industry in neighbouring Quebec.

Étienne St-Pierre alleges the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers has been trying for years to put him out of business by blocking his ability to buy bulk maple syrup from Quebec for processing at his company, S.K. Export Inc., in Kedgwick, N.B.

The federation argues St-Pierre's buying of Quebec sap and syrup is subject to the quota and marketing-board system in that province.

But last week, the New Brunswick Court of Appeal dealt a blow to that argument when it ruled that a court injunction against St-Pierre, issued in Quebec, has no legal standing in New Brunswick.

"I don't live in Quebec, I live in New Brunswick," St-Pierre tells CBC News. "I've got nothing to do with them.

"Just like if you buy a car, wood, stove, anything: as soon as you cross the border from Quebec to New Brunswick, the product belongs to New Brunswick. That's the law."

The Quebec injunction had been issued by the Quebec Agricultural Marketing Board, which licenses and regulates producers in that province, and was subsequently endorsed by a Quebec judge.

All maple syrup producers must be licensed by the board and can only produce a set quota of sap and syrup.

For the marketing board's injunction to be valid in New Brunswick, however, a court here would have to "homologate" it, which means accepting it and issuing a matching injunction here.

'No sense' to enforce temporary injunction

But the Court of Queen's Bench justice who heard the case last year refused to do that. The Court of Appeal decision has now upheld the decision.

Justice Alexandre Deschenes wrote in his decision that the Court of Appeal agreed with the lower court decision that the federation was trying "to extend to New Brunswick the application of Quebec legislation and regulations."

As well, the injunction is not a permanent one because the Quebec Agricultural Marketing Board itself is still reviewing whether it even has jurisdiction in the case. It would "make no sense" to enforce an injunction that may not last, the ruling says.

The victory for St-Pierre comes eight years after the Quebec federation filed a complaint with the marketing board to stop him from importing bulk sap and syrup from Quebec.

Back then, in 2007, he refused to respect a subpoena and appear in Quebec because he didn't feel the federation and the marketing board had jurisdiction.

In 2012, the marketing board tried to subpoena employees from the Kedgwick branches of the National Bank and the Caisse Populaire de Restigouche. The New Brunswick Court of Appeal ruled the subpoenas by a Quebec court were not valid in New Brunswick.

But last year, St-Pierre says, his lawyer advised him to appear and to challenge the board's jurisdiction outside the province.

Charged in $30M heist

St-Pierre is also one of several people charged after the 2012 theft of $30 million worth of maple syrup from a warehouse in Quebec.

St-Pierre, who is scheduled to appear in court in November, denies any involvement, saying he's been accused as part of the federation's attempts to drive him out of business.

The maple products federation gets 12 cents on every pound of of maple syrup that moves in Quebec, and they want to collect that on the product he imports to New Brunswick, he says.

If the stolen syrup had come to Kedgwick, St-Pierre says, it would have involved a large number of 18-wheeler truckers moving into the village, something that would not have gone unnoticed by local residents.

They call me black-market because I don't give 12 cents [per pound] to the federation. I don't have to do it.'- Étienne St-Pierre

St-Pierre had about 15 trailer loads of equipment and syrup seized in a police raid in September 2012 in connection with the investigation of the Quebec theft.

St-Pierre says the Quebec maple industry resents that he's a successful competitor, buying surplus sap and syrup from Quebec and exporting two million pounds of maple products a year to 24 countries.

"They call me black-market because I don't give 12 cents to the federation," he says. "I don't have to do it."

He says the federation is also going after the producer that sells him his raw product. St-Pierre says he gets about half his syrup from Quebec and half from New Brunswick.

The Quebec federation advertises itself as "Pure Canadian Maple Syrup" on its U.S. website, which doesn't mention that there are producers elsewhere in Canada.

Federation officials declined to comment on Monday, saying they are still reviewing the Court of Appeal ruling.